Baseball Starts SEC Play This Weekend at Florida

FOR STARTERS

• Carolina opens Southeastern Conference (SEC) play on Tuesday night (March 10) as the Gamecocks head to No. 23 Florida for a three-game series.
• Friday and Saturday’s games will start at 6:30 p.m. with Sunday’s game set for a 1 p.m. start.
• All three games will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.
• All three games also will be broadcast on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Derek Scott and Stuart Lake on the call.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Friday
South Carolina Josh Gunther (Jr. RHP) 2-0, 4.91 ERA, 18.1 IP, 5 BB, 26 SO
Florida Liam Peterson (Jr. RHP) 1-0, 3.72 ERA, 19.1 IP, 12 BB, 34 SO

Saturday
South Carolina Amp Phillips (Jr. RHP) 2-1, 3.50 ERA, 18.0 IP, 9 BB, 20 SO
Florida Aidan King (So. RHP) 2-1, 0.00 ERA, 17.1 IP, 2 BB, 17 SO

Sunday
South Carolina TBA
Florida Cooper Walls (So. RHP) 2-0, 4.50 ERA, 14.0 IP, 3 BB, 11 SO

SCOUTING FLORIDA

• The Gators are coming off a 6-3 win over Florida State on Tuesday night.
• Jacob Kendall and Cash Strayer had two RBI apiece in the win over the Seminoles.
• Brendan Lawson leads the Gators with a .421 and has added nine home runs and 26 RBI.
• On the mound, Aidan King has not allowed an earned run in 17.1 innings pitched with 17 strikeouts compared to two walks.
• Kevin O’Sullivan is in his 19th season as head coach at Florida. He guided the Gators to the 2017 national championship.

SERIES VS. FLORIDA

• Florida has a 58-56 series advantage on Carolina heading into the weekend series.
• The Gators won all four meetings against the Gamecocks last season, including in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.
• Carolina won the series at Gainesville in 2024, winning the first two games.
• Florida is 32-18 all-time against Carolina in Gainesville.

SUTTER POWERS IN PRINCETON SERIES

• Fifth-year senior Logan Sutter was 6-for-11 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 .366 with four doubles, five home runs and is tied for second on the team with 14 RBI.

DOUBLES PARTY

• After 18 games, Carolina has 46 doubles on the season, which is second in the SEC behind Mississippi State’s 50 and is tied for fifth in the country.
• Texas Tech leads Division I baseball with 52 doubles.
• KJ Scobey has nine doubles in 18 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 14 games played.

GUNTHER NAMED SEC PITCHER OF THE WEEK

• Junior Josh Gunther was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week on March 2.
• Gunther, who made his first career start, went seven innings and allowed just three with no runs and 10 strikeouts to just one walk in a 7-0 win over No. 15 Clemson.
• Gunther ended five of his seven innings with a strikeout and retired the final six batters of the night.
• Clemson came into the game hitting .332 but Gunther and Alex Valentin combined on Carolina’s second shutout of the season.
• Gunther is a perfect 2-0 on the year with a 4.91 ERA.

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 .432 with three doubles, a triple, four home runs and 12 RBI with an .818 slugging percentage this season.
• Craddock hit a pair of home runs at The Citadel on March 10.

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 .317 with four home runs and leads the team with 15 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 .338 with nine doubles, three home runs and is tied for second on the team with 14 RBI.

UP NEXT

• Carolina will play its next four games at Founders Park, staring with a Tuesday night (March 17) game against Charlotte.
• Tuesday’s game will start at 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday’s game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.