Schrock to at least play designated hitter in series
After defending its No. 1 ranking with a series victory over Ole Miss last weekend, the South Carolina baseball team will play its first conference series on the road this weekend.
The Gamecocks (18-1, 2-1 SEC) are set to face Kentucky in a three-game set beginning on Friday.
“Well it’s our first road SEC series, traveling to a place where historically — at least since I’ve been here — we haven’t necessarily played that well,” coach Chad Holbrook said. “Kentucky’s been pretty darn good, and they’re good again.”
The Wildcats have compiled a 15-6 record, but they haven’t been entirely consistent in the process. In Kentucky’s first game of the season, it toppled then-No. 1 Virginia in convincing fashion. But in the Wildcats’ last series, they lost two out of three to an unranked Alabama team, pushing them out of the top 25 in the Baseball America poll. They had been No. 20.
Despite its up-and-down performance, Kentucky still boasts one of the most powerful offenses in collegiate baseball. The Wildcats lead the nation in runs scored with 194, and they sit at eighth place in both hits and home runs.
“You look at their line — offensively, it’s very scary,” Holbrook said. “Our pitchers are going to have their work cut out for them. They’re going to have to pitch very, very well.”
Kentucky’s juggernaut offense is lead primarily by two players, A.J. Reed and Austin Cousino, that Holbrook thinks should be first team All-Americans.
Reed is tied for the most home runs in the nation with nine, and he sits in second place for RBIs with 31, while Cousino leads the country in hits with 38.
Statistically, however, there is no unit better equipped to challenge the Wildcats’ firepower than the South Carolina pitching staff.
The Gamecocks have the lowest earned run average in the nation at 3.16, and they lead the country with nine shutouts.
While South Carolina tries to account for the inevitable run production that Kentucky brings to the table, Holbrook said his plan is to trust the offensive lineup he’s been going with all season rather than experiment with new orders.
“We’re 18-1. I’m not going to change things too much,” Holbrook said.
On the injury front, the Gamecock training room is still relatively empty, aside from a few nagging ailments.
Sophomore Max Schrock was sidelined with an ankle injury last weekend, but it didn’t seem to impact him when he came in to hit a game-tying pinch-hit home run game two of a doubleheader.
While Holbrook is still unsure about if Schrock will play in the field this weekend, he says the second baseman will at least play designated hitter.
Evan Beal, who has been recovering from a back injury, was slated to see some action against the Citadel on Tuesday before the game was postponed. But the junior won’t take the mound against Kentucky because of the importance of the in-conference series.
South Carolina currently holds the advantage over the Wildcats, having swept them in last season’s meeting in Columbia. But the last time the Gamecocks made the trip to Lexington, Ky., they dropped all three games in the series.
“It’s a very similar team to when we went up there in 2012 and they swept us, and I’ve got a lot of guys on that bus that experienced that,” Holbrook said. “And hopefully, that experience gets their attention and (they) know that we need to play well to win, because Kentucky’s awfully good.”