Report: Former Ray Tanner assistant bringing top national program to face USC in fall

A former assistant to Ray Tanner is reportedly set to take the field at Founders Park this fall, but it’s not Chad Holbrook.

According to D1Baseball.com’s Kendall Rogers, North Carolina State and coach Elliott Avent are planning to come to Columbia in late September for a scrimmage with South Carolina.

In April, the NCAA instituted a rule change allowing teams to play two games against other programs during the fall, neither of which will count towards either team’s final record. At the time, Gamecocks coach Mark Kingston declined to say who he might schedule USC to play, but said he had an idea of who it might be.

The Big Spur also reported on July 16 that NC State, which earned the No. 16 national seed in the 2018 NCAA tournament, would likely come to South Carolina in September.

The Wolfpack have qualified for the NCAA tournament in four consecutive seasons and advanced to the College World Series in 2013. Avent served as an assistant for Tanner during the latter’s first season as head coach at NC State in 1988 and returned to lead the program in 1997.

The Gamecocks and Wolfpack have not played each other since 2008, when they squared off twice in an NCAA regional, with South Carolina losing both games.

USC coach Mark Kingston will enter the fall of 2018 off a Super Regional berth in his first season in Columbia, but faces a daunting task in replacing two-thirds of his weekend rotation and eight of the nine players who started for most of the NCAA tournament this spring. The Gamecocks bring in another heralded recruiting class and plenty of junior college transfers and will have battles at almost every position.