South Carolina baseball aims to fix sloppy play quickly heading into weekend series
Who: South Carolina (3-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. Utah Valley (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
Where: Founders Park
When: Friday, 4 p.m.
Saturday, 2 p.m.
Sunday, 1:30 p.m.
Radio: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
Tickets: Starting at $6
Weather forecast: Cloudy with temperatures in the mid 50s on Friday with a slight chance of rain. Showers in the morning Friday, becoming scattered in the afternoon with a high near 52 degrees. Overcast but warmer Sunday, occasional light rain in the morning clearing up as the day goes on, high of 71 degrees.
Probable starters (Friday): USC — Sophomore RHP Carmen Mlodzinski (0-0, 6.23 ERA); Utah Valley — Senior RHP Jake Carr (0-1, 6.75 ERA)
Probable starters (Saturday): USC — Freshman LHP Dylan Harley (0-0, 16.88 ERA); Utah Valley — Junior RHP Paxton Schultz (0-0, 3.86 ERA)
Probable starters (Sunday): USC — Junior RHP Reid Morgan (0-0, 1.50 ERA); Utah Valley — Senior RHP Walker Ramsey (0-1, 5.68 ERA)
What to watch for: Utah Valley went a combined 33-73 over its last two seasons and was picked to finish ninth out of 10 teams in the preseason WAC poll. In their season-opening series against Fresno State, the Wolverines slashed .208/.322/.297 at the plate while the pitchers had a 1.36 WHIP and 5.40 ERA.
The Gamecocks, meanwhile, are coming off a dramatic come-from-behind victory in the midweek over Winthrop that coach Mark Kingston called a “growth moment” for his team. Still, Kingston acknowledged, Carolina played sloppy early on against the Eagles, continuing some troubling trends from its first series against Liberty.
Right now, Gamecock pitchers are averaging 2.5 wild pitches per game, a pace that would yield 140 over an entire season. The program record is 73. The team’s fielding percentage is also down, to .961 — USC hasn’t had a season-long fielding percentage below .960 since 1997.
“There’s things that I saw (against Winthrop) that were encouraging, and I saw some things ... that we better fix quickly, because you can’t lose games, you can’t beat yourself,” Kingston said.
The good things Kingston saw include a strong bullpen that has given up seven runs over 24 innings, an offense topped by dynamic seniors in TJ Hopkins and Jacob Olson, and a starter in Reid Morgan who seems capable of finishing every weekend with a solid outing.
