How to watch South Carolina face familiar postseason foe UNCW in NCAA regional final
After a long day spent waiting for an NCAA decision, South Carolina baseball received word late Sunday — the Gamecocks' NCAA tournament regional final would be postponed to 1 p.m. Monday.
Shortly thereafter, UNC-Wilmington completed a 9-7 upset of host and No. 1 seed East Carolina, knocking the Pirates out of the tournament after a marathon contest that was divided by a five-hour weather delay.
With the victory, the Seahawks advanced to face the Gamecocks in the regional final, needing two wins over USC in the double-elimination tourney. Carolina, meanwhile, needs just one win. If UNCW wins the first game Monday, the two squads will face off again at 5 p.m.
With rain, lightning and long games throwing the usual schedule of the regional into chaos, the television broadcast details of Monday's championship settled the morning of games. USC's will be streamed online by ESPN.
Who exactly will pitch in these games has also not been announced yet by either team — USC coach Mark Kingston declined to name a starter Saturday, and UNCW coach Mark Scalf said Sunday that he would likely use a combination of pitchers.
With the postponement, UNC-Wilmington will get roughly 14 hours of rest between games, as opposed to the one it would have gotten had Sunday's schedule remained intact. But Scalf said the NCAA's decision was the proper one considering how late the first game ended and the amount of time his team had been at the ballpark — since 10:30 a.m.
"If we had had to play tonight, I think it would have been awfully difficult for our guys to play another nine innings," Scafe said.
Monday's game or games will mark a role reversal of some recent postseason history between these two programs, as they faced off in 2016, the last time South Carolina hosted a regional.
In that tournament, South Carolina, then under coach Chad Holbrook, dropped its opening game to Rhode Island, only to storm back through the loser's bracket to the championship, where UNC-Wilmington had two chances to beat the Gamecocks.
Carolina won both, however, 10-1 and 10-5, to advance to a super regional. Current team members Jonah Bride, Madison Stokes, LT Tolbert, Hunter Taylor and TJ Hopkins all played in at least one of the wins.
That marked the closest UNCW has ever come to an NCAA super regional, and Scalf recalled those results Sunday.
"We didn't play well the first time and they jumped all over us, and Tyler Johnson, a reliever, jumped in and threw about (nine) innings," Scalf said. "And then we had opportunities in the final game. I thought we were pitching well, made a couple of defensive mistakes that put us in a hole that we had to try to climb out of.
"They're an outstanding (team). We know that. We know we got our work cut out for us tomorrow."
Who: No. 2 South Carolina (35-24) vs. No. 4 UNC-Wilmington (39-22)
When: 1 p.m. Monday, June 4, 5 p.m. if necessary
Where: Clark-LeClair Stadium, Greenville, North Carolina
Watch: Streaming on WatchESPN.com
Listen: 107.5 FM in Columbia, South Carolina
Probable pitchers: South Carolina — TBA; UNC-Wilmington — TBA
This story was originally published June 4, 2018 at 12:48 AM with the headline "How to watch South Carolina face familiar postseason foe UNCW in NCAA regional final."