Baseball Announces Opening Weekend Rotation

COLUMBIA – Head Coach Mark Kingston announced his opening weekend rotation this morning (Thursday, Feb. 15) for the three-game series against Miami (Ohio). The Gamecocks will go with junior Eli Jones, redshirt junior Dylan Eskew and redshirt sophomore Roman Kimball.

Jones, who will get the ball on Friday, made 23 appearances with six starts for the Gamecocks last season. The Peachtree City, Ga., native was 4-5 with a 3.95 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 54.2 innings pitched. Jones had a career best 10 strikeouts at Arkansas (May 12) and had wins in each of his first four appearances of 2023. Jones has made 12 career starts as a Gamecock and has 73 strikeouts in his Carolina career.

Eskew will toe the rubber on Saturday. The Tampa, Fla., native made five appearances on the mound for Carolina in 2023 and had six strikeouts in 7.2 innings pitched. He struck out three in 3.1 innings of relief in a win over Charleston Southern (April 18) and pitched a scoreless innings in a win over Queens (Feb. 22). This will be Eskew’s first career start at Carolina.

Kimball rounds out the rotation and will start on Sunday. The New Hartford, N.Y., native did not pitch in 2023 after recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Notre Dame transfer was a perfect 4-0 with 32 strikeouts in 25 innings pitched for the Fighting Irish, who advanced to the College World Series in 2022. Kimball went to P27 Academy in Lexington, S.C., for his senior season and was 4-3 with a 2.50 ERA and 84 strikeouts.