Baseball Travels to Gainesville for Weekend Series at Florida
Carolina has its second Thursday-Saturday series in as many weeks, travelling to the Sunshine State.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina baseball team heads back on the road this weekend, visiting Gainesville, Fla., for a three-game series at Florida. The series begins on Thursday night (April 11) at 7:30 p.m. and continues Friday at 6:30 p.m. The series wraps up on Saturday afternoon (April 13) with a 3:30 p.m. first pitch. Thursday’s game will be televised on ESPNU with Tom Hart and Kyle Peterson on the call. Friday and Saturday’s game will be streamed on SEC Network +. All games will be broadcast on The Game 107.5 FM and the Gamecock Sports Network with Derek Scott and Tommy Moody on the call. Carolina is coming off a 5-4 win over Charlotte on Tuesday night (April 9). Andrew Eyster homered for the Gamecocks to break a 3-all tie and Sawyer Bridges earned the win on the mound, striking out the side in the sixth inning.
PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Thursday
South Carolina Reid Morgan (Jr. RHP) 3-1, 2.60 ERA, 52.0 IP, 6 BB, 39 SO
Florida Tommy Mace (So. RHP) 5-3, 4.26 ERA, 50.2 IP, 14 BB, 42 SO
Friday
South Carolina Cam Tringali (R-So. RHP) 1-0, 3.03 ERA, 35.2 IP, 7 BB, 38 SO
Florida Christian Scott (Fr. RHP) 3-1, 3.60 ERA, 25.0 IP, 8 BB, 27 SO
Saturday
South Carolina TBA
Florida TBA
SCOUTING FLORIDA
The Gators went to Florida State and picked up a 3-1 win over the Seminoles on Tuesday night. Ben Specht struck out five in three innings of relief to earn the win. Brady McConnell leads the Gators with a .385 batting average while Nelson Maldonado has 11 doubles and six home runs. On the mound, Tommy Mace will start on Thursday. He is 5-3 with 42 strikeouts in 50.2 innings pitched.
THE SERIES
The all-time series between the two schools is tied up at 46 wins apiece. Florida won 2-of-3 games last season in Columbia. The Gamecocks picked up a win in the Saturday game, 15-7, as Jacob Olson and Jonah Bride had three hits apiece and Noah Campbell had an inside-the-park home run. Florida leads the series 25-14 in games in Gainesville.
GAMECOCKS WIN EIGHTH ONE-RUN GAME
Carolina defeated Charlotte, 5-4, on Tuesday (April 9) to improve to 8-2 this season in one-run games. The Gamecocks last two wins have been 5-4 decisions as Carolina beat Alabama in 12 innings on April 6. Eleven of Carolina’s 20 win have been by either one or two runs, four of them in the walk-off variety.
SEC LEADERS
At the plate, Jacob Olson is second in the SEC with 12 home runs. Senior TJ Hopkins is tied for second in triples (3), tied for eighth in home runs (8), tied for seventh in total bases (77) and eighth in slugging percentage (.592). Olson is fourth in slugging percentage (.648) and tied for third in total bases (83). Luke Berryhill is tied for seventh in doubles (12). On the mound, Reid Morgan is third with 52.0 innings pitched and Cam Tringali is tied for fourth with 16 appearances.
UP NEXT
Carolina makes its second trip to BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte for a Tuesday night (April 16) matchup against North Carolina. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
