3 things to watch for as USC baseball hosts its first ever fall game vs NC State
Saturday, for the first time, South Carolina baseball will play another program this fall when it hosts N.C. State at Founders Park.
The scrimmage is the first of two games USC will play in preparation for the 2019 season without it counting toward its record, the first time the NCAA has allowed college baseball teams to do so. Saturday’s game is at noon. Admission is free.
And as with any new development, it will take time for players, coaches and fans to get used to what these games will look like and figure out what value, if any, to assign to it.
For Gamecocks coach Mark Kingston, one thing is certain — beating the Wolfpack is not the priority.
“Winning the games will be secondary,” Kingston said. “Rarely will we ever say that, but winning the games in these scrimmages will be secondary to making sure we get guys experience, getting them looks in different spots and getting our new players a good feel for what it’s like to wear a South Carolina uniform in a game setting.”
Instead, the focus will be on getting the Gamecocks, especially the newcomers, some form of experience, even if Kingston said the scrimmage will feel more like a practice than a game.
“You want to get the new players in your uniform, in front of your crowd, against a really good opponent so they can get a feel for what a game action really feels like,” Kingston said. “Next, we want to see how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Maybe a guy you think fits here, you try him in a real game situation and it doesn’t quite look right. There will be a lot of experimentation.”
Everyone available will play, Kingston said.
STRUCTURE
How the game will be formatted is clear — Kingston said this Tuesday that he and N.C. State coach Elliott Avent have had ongoing conversations in that regard, as the NCAA gives them wide latitude in determining the structure of the scrimmage.
There are a few basic principles the coaches have agreed upon, Kingston said. There will be no limits of any kind on substitutions — players who leave the game may re-enter it later. The game may last longer than nine innings, depending on the number of pitchers and catchers both teams want and can use. And Kingston is not ruling out the possibility that the two coaches may agree to put their teams in certain situations to get more practice — extending innings early, putting runners on base or starting at-bats with certain counts.
Still, despite saying the scrimmage will resemble a practice, Kingston also said “it will be pretty similar to what you see in a regular game,” just as many of South Carolina’s intrasquad scrimmages do.
FROM PRACTICE TO THE REAL DEAL
A regular game with lowered stakes is important for Kingston, not only to get his players a little extra experience, but also so he and his coaching staff can get a sense of which players are ready to go and which ones are having trouble translating their skills to the college level.
No one player has surprised Kingston through four scrimmages and workouts so far this fall, he has said. On Saturday, he could start to see some separation.
“Does your 92 mile per hour fastball get outs at this level, or is it just good velocity? Does your BP power and hitting in the past translate to this level?” Kingston said of the questions he wants answered. “That’s the biggest thing.”
WHO’S NOT PLAYING
As has been documented, the Gamecocks who have taken the field this fall are far different from the team that advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals in June, thanks in large part to 10 MLB draftees and five senior starters.
But USC’s fresh-faced roster has already been hit with several injuries this fall — senior veteran Jacob Olson, junior college transfer Nick Neville and freshman Wes Clarke, all potential starters, are day-to-day with various ailments. Pitchers Ridge Chapman, Graham Lawson and Sawyer Bridges were already shut down for the fall. And sophomore starter Logan Chapman recently tore his UCL, likely costing him all of 2019 as he considers Tommy John surgery.
And on Saturday, the Gamecocks will also be without junior college transfer Luke Berryhill, not because of injury, but because of NCAA rules dictating that players who transfer from a Division I program to a junior college and then back must be two semesters removed from their first Division I stint before they can play competitive games. Berryhill only has one, meaning he can practice with USC but not play.
Berryhill’s absence could impact the game in conjunction with Clarke’s injury, as that would leave senior Chris Cullen as South Carolina’s only available regular catcher, and Kingston would likely not want him to catch too many innings.
This story was originally published September 27, 2018 at 2:38 PM.