Baseball Faces In-State Rival Clemson This Weekend in the Palmetto State

FOR STARTERS

• Carolina faces in-state rival Clemson this weekend at three different locations.
• Friday’s game will be at Founders Park with Saturday’s game at Segra Park, home of the Columbia Fireflies. Sunday’s game will be at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson.
• Friday’s game will have a 7 p.m. first pitch while both Saturday and Sunday will have a 3 p.m. start.
• Friday’s game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus with Dave Weinstein, Grayson Greiner and Kip Bouknight on the call.
• Saturday and Sunday’s games both will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
• All three games also will be broadcast on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Derek Scott (Friday and Sunday), Cade Crenshaw (Saturday) and Stuart Lake on the call.

PARKING INFORMATION 

BUSINESS LOTS DURING AFTERNOON GAMES Business lot parking passes will be honored in Lot 1 ONLY for the Feb. 13, 18 and 20 afternoon baseball games based on availability. The businesses at 405 (Lot 9) and 401 (Lot 10) Huger Street request that you begin parking at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. Other business lots open at 5 p.m. on weekdays. Parking is allowed in Lot 8 (the Cregger lot) on the Williams St. side for the afternoon early games.

GAME DAY PARKING INFORMATION (including public game day lots (PGDL: $10 per game). All gameday lots are cashless. Please have a debit card or credit card ready for payment upon entry into parking lots.

Weekdays
Game Time: 7 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 5:30 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 4:30/5 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 4 p.m.

Saturday
Game Time: 2 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 1 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 12/12:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 12 p.m. 

Sunday
Game Time: 1:30 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 12:30 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 12:30 p.m./1 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 11:30 a.m.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Friday
South Carolina Josh Gunther (Jr. RHP) 1-0, 7.88 ERA, 8.0 IP, 4 BB, 10 SO
Clemson Aidan Knaak (Jr. RHP) 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 8.0 IP, 4 BB, 14 SO

Saturday
South Carolina Amp Phillips (Jr. RHP) 1-0, 1.86 ERA, 9.2 IP, 5 BB, 10 SO
Clemson Michael Sharman (Sr. LHP) 2-0, 0.82 ERA, 11.0 IP, 1 BB, 14 SO

Sunday
South Carolina Riley Goodman (R-Fr. RHP) 0-1, 3.68 ERA, 7.1 IP, 6 BB, 8 SO
Clemson Talan Bell (So. LHP) 0-0, 3.60 ERA, 5.0 IP, 1 BB, 4 SO

PROMOTIONS
Friday – The first 1,000 fans will receive a free rally towel

SCOUTING CLEMSON

• The Tigers are a perfect 8-0 heading into the weekend series, sweeping Army and Bryant and winning midweeks against Charlotte and Presbyterian.
• Clemson has the nation’s best ERA at 1.43 and is holding opponents to a .163 batting average.
• Aidan Knaak will start on Friday and has 14 strikeouts in eight innings of work.
• At the plate, Nate Savoie is hitting .467 with 11 RBI.
• Erik Bakich is in his fourth season as head coach at Clemson. He guided Michigan to a College World Series runner-up finish in 2019.

SERIES VS. CLEMSON

• Clemson holds a 191-145-2 all-time series record heading into Friday night.
• Clemson won all three games of the series last season.
• Talmadge LeCroy was 2-for-4 with two RBI in Friday night’s game at Clemson.

CRADDOCK NAMED SEC FROSH OF THE WEEK

• Freshman infielder Will Craddock was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week on Monday, Feb. 23 after his debut in a Carolina uniform.
• Craddock went 8-for-15 with nine runs scored, two doubles, a triple, two home runs, two walks and six RBI to help lead the Gamecocks to four wins last week.
• He was a perfect 3-for-3 and reached base safely in all five of his plate appearance in the Gardner-Webb win on Wednesday.
• In the win over Navy on Saturday, he opened the first with a leadoff home run and added a two-run double. Craddock had four RBI in the game.
• Then on Sunday in the win over Air Force, Craddock once again led off the Carolina first with a home run. He also added a double in the 4-2 win.
• Craddock becomes the first Gamecock to win Freshman of the Week honors since Tyler Pitzer in 2024.
• Craddock is hitting .500 with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and six RBI with a 1.056 slugging percentage this season.

LECROY RETURNS FOR FIFTH SEASON

• Catcher Talmadge LeCroy returns for his fifth year at Carolina in 2026 after missing the second half of last season due to injury.
• LeCroy has played in 182 games in his Carolina career with 165 starts. If he plays in 24 games this season, LeCroy will become one of 17 Gamecocks to play in 200 games or more and the first to do it since Adam Matthews (2009-12).
• LeCroy also is 14 walks away from cracking Carolina’s top-10 list in base on balls.
• The Belton, S.C., native has 152 hits, 29 doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 94 RBI in the Garnet and Black, helping Carolina to a Super Regional berth in 2023.
• LeCroy is hitting .471 with two home runs and seven RBI this season.
• This past week, LeCroy had multi-hit games in all five Carolina contests, including going 3-for-4 in the win over Gardner-Webb.

KJ MOVING TO SHORT FOR 2026

• Sophomore KJ Scobey manned the hot corner last year, starting at third in 56 of Carolina’s 57 games in 2025.
• Scobey will now move to shortstop this season, a position he played at Team USA training camp this summer and all through fall ball.
• Scobey had 34 runs scored, seven doubles, eight home runs and 27 RBI in his freshman season.
• Scobey had a walk-off double in Carolina’s 3-2 win over North Florida on April 22 and had a home run to lead off the ninth in the Gamecocks’ 6-5 win over No. 1 LSU on May 15.
• Scobey spent the summer of 2025 in the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp in Cary, N.C. He had two hits in the Stars and Stripes exhibition on June 30.
• In the second game of the 2026 season, Scobey hit a walk-off solo home run to start the bottom of the ninth, lifting Carolina to a 6-5 win.
• Scobey is hitting .341 with two home runs and seven RBI this year.

PHILLIPS “AMP”ED AFTER SHUTOUT WIN

• Junior righthanded pitcher Amp Phillips started Carolina’s first shutout of 2026, going six innings and allowing just one hit with three strikeouts in the 8-0 win over Navy.
• Phillips faced the minimum in four of his six innings and used just 79 pitches in his frames.
• Phillips has a 1.86 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 9.2 innings this season.
• It was Phillips’ first win in a Gamecock uniform after transferring from USC Upstate this past season.

UP NEXT

• Carolina hosts USC Upstate (March 3) and Charleston Southern (March 4) in the team’s final double midweek of the season.
• Both games will start at 6:30 p.m. and will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.