COLUMBIA, S.C. — In its last three SEC series, South Carolina has dropped the first game only to come back to win the last two. It happened against Georgia, Missouri and this past weekend at LSU.
So as his team prepares to begin the second half of the regular season against the top-ranked team in the country, Gamecock head baseball coach Mark Kingston says he has seen enough from his team in the first 15 SEC contests to know that regardless of the situation, they will not take the easy way out and lay down. Given the talent level in the dugout, there is no reason why they shouldn’t battle until the last out is recorded.
“Our pitching has been as good as advertised for the most part all year,” Kingston said.
“Our defense has been very solid for the most part all year. So, I think the biggest thing is to get more consistency from our pitching and our offense on Friday nights. What I’ve learned is this is a group of fighters. This team will never give in. This team will never panic when things get tough. We had a losing streak and we had a huge winning streak after that. So, this is a team that loves to play and comes out to fight and loves to compete.”
South Carolina (24-10, 10-5 SEC) and Arkansas (30-6, 11-4) will play game one Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. With heavy rain in the forecast for Saturday, there is a chance a doubleheader could be played Friday.