Gamecocks looking to manage injury problems
After taking two of three games over the weekend from SEC foe Auburn, South Carolina’s midseason struggles appear to be behind them. At least that’s what head coach Chad Holbrook is hoping.
The injury bug has continued to pester the Gamecocks. Junior Connor Bright could not play the last two games of the Auburn series and junior Elliot Caldwell left the game Sunday with a bad back.
Sophomore Marcus Mooney played on Sunday, but was dealing with a fever.
“To persevere and still find ourselves where we are at 30-10, I’m proud of my team,” Holbrook said. “If we can find a way to get healthy, I think we can to be difficult to beat, because our pitching staff has done a great job.”
Though they dropped three of the five games they played last week, the Gamecocks remained stagnant in the polls, remaining No. 11 in Baseball America’s latest top 25.
Now with a couple conference road wins under its belt, South Carolina will set its sights on Davidson on Tuesday, and then USC Upstate on Wednesday.
Davidson (23-10, 13-3 SoCon) will visit Columbia well rested after seeing three of its games last week get canceled. Davidson did manage to squeak out one win last week, prevailing 7-6 over UNC Greensboro in an 11-inning thriller.
The team is batting a collective .306 on the season, which is good for 12th in the nation. Davidson is right behind SEC offensive juggernauts Ole Miss and Kentucky, which rank 10th and 11th in the nation respectively.
The Wildcats also boast seven players who are currently batting over .300 on the season. The team is led by senior outfielder Forrest Brandt, who is hitting .352 on the season, to go along with six home runs and a team-leading 34 RBIs.
Davidson has played only one series outside of their home state of North Carolina, a three-game set which it dropped to Furman.
USC Upstate (14-27, 4-13 Atlantic Sun) comes into the game fielding a streaky track record as of late. The Spartans dropped five in a row to start the month, then reeled off four consecutive wins, only to drop the next three contests in a row.
The matchup with the Gamecocks will be USC Upstate’s third game in as many days. The Spartans face UNC Asheville and Wofford Monday and Tuesday before traveling to Columbia for a one-game stand against South Carolina.
Unlike the Wildcats, USC Upstate features only one player who is batting over the .300 mark. Senior outfielder Tyler Lesch is hitting .314, and he also owns dynamic speed, leading the team in both triples and stolen bases.
The Spartans’ pitching staff has been shelled this season, giving up 530 hits over 367 innings pitched this season. The team ERA is sitting at a substandard 5.96. If the Gamecocks see the Spartans’ best pitcher, they will see senior lefty David Roseboom who is 2-5 on the season with a 3.59 ERA.
As for the Gamecocks, Holbrook is hoping that the series win against Auburn will be a catalyst for continued success.
“It was a big weekend for us, having to face some adversity and battling through some things that are out of our control from an injury standpoint,” Holbrook said. “Finding a way to win a big series on the road like this, I hope it gives us some momentum going forward.”
South Carolina will continue to try to nurse its way back to health before taking on Alabama this weekend. Holbrook’s squad is still second in the SEC East, now two games behind Florida.