How to watch, what to watch for in South Carolina baseball’s opening weekend
South Carolina baseball kicks off the 2020 season Friday at Founders Park, hosting Holy Cross for a three-game series over the weekend. Coach Mark Kingston and the Gamecocks are trying to bounce back from a disappointing 2019 in which USC tied the program record for losses with a 28-28 record and missed the NCAA tournament.
Holy Cross, meanwhile, went 22-32 in the 2019, but finished the season on a 16-12 run in conference play. The Crusaders were picked to finish third in the Patriot League’s preseason coaches poll.
Here are the three main storylines to watch over this opening weekend for the Gamecocks.
1. How many different looks will Mark Kingston try?
Much of South Carolina’s lineup has seemed set throughout the preseason. There’s still some competition for a few spots, though, as Kingston said before the Holy Cross series that he believes the Gamecocks have “at least” 12 players capable of starting. How he’ll potentially juggle that over the first three games could give an indication of how much he’ll balance lineup consistency with rotating in all those players.
“There’s a lot of factors that you look at in determining who you’re going to play on that given day,” Kingston said. “Sometimes it may be you want to play your best infield defense. Some days it’s maybe you want to play your best outfield defense, and maybe some days you want to play your best total defense. There may be times where it’s a right-left matchup, so you match up as many lefties against their righty, and vice versa. It may be something as simple as the wind’s blowing really hard in today, so home runs will probably not be in the mix.”
At second base, JUCO transfer Jeff Heinrich and freshman Braylen Wimmer both played well enough in the preseason to earn consideration there. The incumbent starter, junior Noah Campbell, might move positions to give them a chance but stay in the lineup, Kingston teased. The most logical spot for him would be left field, which might push out sophomore Brady Allen or junior Noah Myers. And of course, things might vary from day to day.
2. Will Carmen Mlodzinski look as good as expected?
Redshirt sophomore righty Carmen Mlodzinski has risen to a projected first-round MLB draft pick while posting a 3-6 record and 5.59 ERA in college, thanks to a stellar summer in the Cape Cod League and continued dominance into the fall, when his outings drew scouts in droves.
On Friday, he’ll finally get the chance to showcase his stuff on the collegiate level. He was expected to be USC’s ace a season ago, but he got off to an uneven start and an injury prematurely ended his season. If he can round into form as an elite Friday night guy, that will go a long way in helping the Gamecocks improve on last season.
“Just no different than it has, pitching in the summer,” Mlodzinski said of his approach. “Just being the person I was, and then throughout the fall and then spring practice, so just another game.”
3. How will star freshman Brennan Milone look?
The only projected true freshman starter for South Carolina is expected to be at third base — rookie Brennan Milone seized control of the position in the fall with solid defense and exceptional offense, and he has continued to showcase that in spring practices.
Milone was considered a potential high draft pick and top-line prospect coming out of high school, but he made it to USC and could make an impact in the middle of the batting order right away.
“His approach at the plate and his ability to make hard contact — I’m sure Carmen can attest, he’s a pretty hard guy to strike out,” junior left fielder Andrew Eyster said. “And I think that’s a big thing for freshmen is, you come in here and it’s an extreme difference from high school, and ... you get guys who miss a lot of barrels and swinging and missing a lot and swinging at balls in the dirt.
“But he never really went through that. He’s kind of been the same guy since he came in here, always squaring up balls, always hitting balls hard, taking this walks, fighting, getting in favorable counts and it’s impressive for a freshman. We didn’t see anything like it last year and it’s probably pretty rare to see something like that, I think.”
When do the Gamecocks play next?
Who: South Carolina vs. Holy Cross
When: 4 p.m. Friday
2 p.m. Saturday
Noon Sunday
Where: Founders Park
TV: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN for all three games
Radio: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
Starting pitchers (Friday): South Carolina — R-So. RHP Carmen Mlodzinski; Holy Cross — Jr. RHP Garret Keough
Starting pitchers (Saturday): South Carolina — So. RHP Brett Kerry; Holy Cross — Jr. LHP Luke Dawson
Starting pitchers (Sunday): South Carolina — Jr. RHP Brannon Jordan; Holy Cross — Jr. RHP Liam Dvorak
