Dates, opponents set for South Carolina baseball’s fall scrimmages

South Carolina baseball will host North Carolina State on Sept. 29 and travel to Georgia Tech on Oct. 6 for scrimmages, under new NCAA rules allowing programs to face off in the fall, the Gamecocks announced Wednesday.

D1Baseball and The Big Spur had previously reported the N.C. State game. The team announced Wednesday that the scrimmage will begin at 2 p.m. at Founders Park and will be free to attend.

The Georgia Tech contest will take place at 1 p.m. on a Saturday at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta — there had previously been reports the two teams might play in SunTrust Park, home of the MLB’s Atlanta Braves.

Neither contest will count toward the Gamecocks’ final 2019 record. Fall practice is slated to begin Sept. 13, with a scrimmage on Sept. 14. The team will still hold its annual Garnet and Black World Series, which is set for the final week of October.

N.C. State is coached by Elliott Avent, who briefly served as an assistant to former USC coach and current athletics director Ray Tanner. The Wolfpack have advanced to the NCAA tournament in four consecutive seasons and were the national No. 16 seed last season.

Georgia Tech is led by Danny Hall, who has been with the Yellow Jackets since 1994. In that time, the program has made 20 NCAA tournaments and three College World Series. Hall’s squad went 27-28 in 2018.

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.

South Carolina softball also announced its fall slate of games on Wednesday, with the Gamecocks playing six total contests— two against Charlotte and one each against Charleston Southern, Furman College of Charleston and Winthrop. All of the games will be in Columbia at Carolina Stadium at Beckham Field and will be free and open to the public.

USC softball also advanced to an NCAA Super Regional in 2018.

SOUTH CAROLINA SOFTBALL FALL SCHEDULE

Sun., Sept. 30, 1 p.m. – Charlotte (doubleheader)

Fri., Oct. 5, 6 p.m. – Charleston Southern

Sun., Oct. 7, 3:30 p.m. – Furman

Sun., Oct. 7, 6 p.m. – College of Charleston

Fri., Oct. 12, 6 p.m. – Winthrop

This story was originally published August 29, 2018 at 1:42 PM.