COLUMBIA, S.C. — It will be another top five opponent for Mark Kingston and the sixth-ranked Gamecock baseball team who is in Nashville for a three-game series with fourth-ranked Vanderbilt.
Last weekend, South Carolina split a season with top-ranked LSU and in the second game of that series, the Gamecocks led LSU 7-3 before the Tigers rallied to earn what would turn out to be a two-game series due to inclement weather in the Midlands.
The Gamecocks are currently 29-4 overall, the best start for that program since 1975 when June Raines was in charge of the dugout. They are 9-2 in the SEC behind Vanderbilt which is 11-1 in the league.
Carolina is ranked second in the D1Baseball.com RPI while Vanderbilt is seventh. The Gamecocks have been on a power surge all season and that has led them to 78 home runs which is leads the country. Vanderbilt’s pitching staff is allowing 6.27 hits per game, that leads the country.
Gavin Casas, a former player in the Vanderbilt program, will return to Nashville for the first time since transferring. He is tied with Ethan Petry for the team lead in home runs with 15.
As far as pitching assignments are concerned, Noah Hall is out with a back injury. That means after Will Sanders takes the mound in Friday’s game one, Jack Mahoney will slide into the Saturday role with a TBA pitcher set to start Sunday’s season finale.