Two of the nation's best teams will face off in a three-game series this weekend when No. 6 South Carolina hosts No. 1 LSU at Founders Park.
The Gamecocks are coming off a 5-0 midweek win against No. 13 North Carolina and a series win against Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss.
The Tigers are coming off a 12-2 midweek win against Nicholls State and a 2-1 series win against No. 11 Tennessee in Baton Rouge, La.
Junior pitcher Will Sanders will return to the pitching rotation on Thursday, after being scratched against Mississippi State last weekend for sophomore pitcher Eli Jones.
"I've never seen a downside to giving a guy a chance to reset mentally and physically," head coach Mark Kingston said. "Sometimes guys just need a chance to take a step back. Whether it's a hitter, whether it's a pitcher, (resetting) can help a player."
Over his six starts this season, Sanders is 2-1 with a 5.17 ERA and 37 strikeouts. However, he has also allowed 10 doubles and seven home runs to opposing batters.
LSU comes in with one of the nation's best pitchers in junior Paul Skenes, who has a 0.81 ERA through 44.1 innings.
In his last outing, Skenes pitched 7.0 innings, giving up one run on five hits, with 12 strikeouts to No. 11 Tennessee.
"We're definitely excited," sophomore catcher Cole Messina said. "(Skenes) is said to be the best thing since Stephen Strasburg."
The Tigers also boast some of the nation's best hitters, including junior outfielder Dylan Crews, sophomore third baseman Tommy White and junior first basemen Tre' Morgan.
White, who was tied for the third most home runs in NCAA Division I baseball last season while playing at NC State, is hitting .378 with a .452 on base percentage and 10 home runs in 26 games played. Morgan, who made the U.S. Collegiate National Team last season, is hitting .330 with a .435 on base percentage through 28 games played.
Crews, who leads the nation in batting average, is hitting .531 with a .659 on-base percentage over 29 games.
"Dylan Crews is a candidate for National Player of the Year. They added Tommy Tanks (White) to their lineup. Tre' Morgan, I've been impressed with him for a long time," Kingston said. "They just got a lot of hitters in that lineup that are proven, that are tough outs, that drive the ball to get on base. It's just a complete offense."
South Carolina is confident they can combat LSU's pitching and offense, however, according to Kingston. Following the win against North Carolina, freshman pitcher Eli Jerzembeck said that it's not South Carolina that has to travel to LSU, but "it's LSU taking on South Carolina," and Kingston said that he thinks Jerzembeck's statement reflects the team's confidence.
"We should be (confident)," Kingston said. "They've earned the right to have confidence. When you win 27 out of 30 games, you should be confident. We also respect every team we play, including the one coming in this weekend."
Part of the confidence comes from freshman infielder/outfielder Ethan Petry, who is hitting .439 with a .496 on-base percentage through 30 games played.
"We're trying to tell Petry, like, 'Dude, this is a hard conference to play in,'" junior pitcher Jack Mahoney said. "I still don't think it's registering in him because he's hitting .450."
On the injury front, sophomore outfielder Carson Hornung could return to action this weekend as a designated hitter while there is no update on senior pitcher Noah Hall's injury, according to Kingston. He said that Hall is continuing to meet with doctors and getting tests done, but he does not have anything to announce at this point.
South Carolina's first game against LSU is Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The game will be available to stream on SEC Network+.