Baseball Visits The Citadel Tuesday Night

FOR STARTERS

• Carolina starts a four-game road trip with a Tuesday night (March 10) game at The Citadel.
• First pitch is at 7 p.m., at Joe Riley Park, home of the Charleston Riverdogs.
• Tuesday’s game will be streamed on ESPN+.
• Tuesday’s game also will be broadcast on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Cade Crenshaw and Stuart Lake on the call.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Tuesday
South Carolina Alex Philpott (Jr. RHP) First appearance of 2026
The Citadel Jacob Deacon (Fr. RHP) 0-0, 2.08 ERA, 4.1 IP, 4 BB, 4 SO

SCOUTING THE CITADEL

• The Bulldogs fell in three games at Kentucky this past weekend. The Citadel has played Florida State and Kentucky in the last two weekend series.
• Phillip Daniels had three hits in the series finale against the Wildcats.
• Miles Barbary leads The Citadel with a .382 average while Zach Hunt has a team-best 12 RBI.
• On the mound, Will Holmes has a 3.63 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 17.1 innings pitched.
• Russell Triplett is in his second season as head coach at The Citadel. He guided the Bulldogs to a 30-win season in 2025 for the first time since 2010.

SERIES VS. THE CITADEL

• Carolina holds a 145-50-1 series advantage on The Citadel heading into Tuesday’s game.
• The Gamecocks won both games against The Citadel last season, winning 9-1 in Charleston on March 5 and 4-0 in Columbia on April 15.
• Beau Hollins was 3-for-5 in the win in Charleston while Ethan Petry had three hits and drove in three runs.
• Four pitchers combined on a shutout in the win in Columbia.
• Carolina is 56-28 all-time against The Citadel in Charleston. 

SUTTER POWERS IN PRINCETON SERIES

• Fifth-year senior Logan Sutter was 6-for-1 with five runs scored, a double, three home runs and seven RBI in a three-game sweep of Princeton March 7-8.
• Sutter’s home run in the bottom of the eighth inning broke a 3-all tie, giving the Gamecocks a 4-3 win on March 7.
• Sutter homered and had three hits and three RBI in the 13-1, seven-inning series finale.
• Sutter was named a Preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
• Sutter currently is hitting .405 with four doubles, five home runs and is tied for the team lead with 14 RBI. 

DOUBLES PARTY

• After 17 games, Carolina has 46 doubles on the season, which is second in the SEC behind Mississippi State’s 47 and is fifth in the country.
• Texas Tech leads Division I baseball with 52 doubles.
• KJ Scobey has nine doubles in 17 games for the Gamecocks. He is second in the SEC in doubles, one behind Mississippi State’s Ace Reese, and tied for sixth in the country.
• Patrick Evans has seven doubles in 13 games played.

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 187 games in his Carolina career with 170 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 10 walks away from cracking Carolina’s top-10 list in base on balls.
• The Belton, S.C., native has 153 hits, 29 doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 95 RBI in the Garnet and Black, helping Carolina to a Super Regional berth in 2023.
• LeCroy belted his first career grand slam in a win over Princeton on March 8.
• LeCroy is hitting .339 with four home runs and is tied for the team lead with 14 RBI this season.

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 .342 with nine doubles, three home runs and is tied for the team lead with 14 RBI.

BE MY VALENTIN

• Junior lefthanded pitcher Alex Valentin has made three solid appearances for the Gamecocks to start the 2026 season.
• Valentin has two saves and nine strikeouts in 7.1 innings pitched, allowing just three hits and two walks and a .120 opponent’s batting average.
• In the 4-2 win over Air Force, Valentin picked up the save, pitching the final three innings and allowing just one hit with three strikeouts.
• He also earned the save in the season opener vs. Northern Kentucky, getting the final out of the game.
• Valentin pitched the final two innings against No. 15 Clemson on Feb. 27, striking out five in the 7-0 win.
• He earned his third save of the season on March 4 against Charleston Southern, striking out four in final two innings of a 4-1 win.
• Valentin is tied with Missouri’s Ian Lohse for the SEC lead with four saves.

UP NEXT

• Carolina opens SEC play this weekend, visiting Florida on March 13-15.
• Friday and Saturday’s games begin at 6:30 p.m. with Sunday’s game starting at 1 p.m.
• All three games will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.