Facing crucial SEC series, South Carolina shuffles rotation, may tweak lineup too
Heading into a potentially pivotal weekend SEC series, South Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston is shaking things up on the mound — and may do so at the plate as well.
After sticking with the same two top starters for the entire season and the same weekend rotation for the last six weeks, the No. 19 Gamecocks will use the same pitchers against No. 4 Mississippi State, but Kingston and pitching coach Skylar Meade have shuffled the order.
Redshirt junior Thomas Farr, who has started every Game 1 this season, will go Sunday in the series finale. Senior Brannon Jordan, who has started every Game 2, will get the Friday night nod. And freshman Will Sanders, who has established himself as the third option behind the two veterans, will go Saturday in the middle of the series.
USC’s pitchers have posted solid numbers overall on the season — the Gamecocks rank in the top four of the SEC in ERA, batting average against, strikeouts, home runs allowed and walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP). But with the team mired in a 1-5 stretch since the second half of conference play began, Kingston felt something had to change.
“We just need to spark it, we want to do something to maybe change up a little bit of the mojo. And all three pitchers deserve to be weekend starters right now, but obviously we haven’t had the kind of success overall that we’ve wanted to. And so sometimes you got to try some things and see what it looks like,” Kingston said.
In particular, Carolina has struggled in series openers, going 1-6 in those games in SEC play. During that stretch, Kingston has often said Farr, the team’s ace, hasn’t pitched perfectly but also has done enough to keep the Gamecocks competitive, only to be undone by a lack of run support, which has led to a 2-5 record.
As Kingston hopes shuffling the rotation will help, so might tweaking his lineup. In Wednesday’s midweek contest against North Florida, the Gamecocks shifted junior outfielder Brady Allen out of the leadoff spot for the third time this season and put him third, where he has never hit. Sophomore catcher Colin Burgess hit second for only the second time all year and sophomore second baseman Braylen Wimmer led off for the first time since March 20. Junior Wes Clarke also moved back to the cleanup spot after being moved down in the series finale against Ole Miss.
Kingston stopped short of saying he would use that new combination again against MSU, but he did sound pleased with the production he got out of switch — those top four hitters went a combined 6-for-16, scoring four runs and driving in five in a 7-6 win.
“(Allen is) one of our best weapons offensively, and it’s just a matter of what is the game dictating? What is the production of the other guys in the lineup dictating in terms of how you want to use it?” Kingston said. “... And so we’ll get together as a staff to decide if that’s the direction we want to go, but until you have everything at the highest level possible, you’re always experimenting and trying to find something that might give a team a spark.”
This weekend’s series could prove especially crucial for South Carolina given the unique circumstances this season. The NCAA has already announced it will predetermine regional host sites for its national tournament before the bracket is unveiled due to COVID-19 protocols. And according to Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball, the NCAA is expected to narrow the list of potential host sites to 20 on Thursday or Friday of next week.
Most national analysts have the Gamecocks right on the edge of hosting a regional — before being swept by Ole Miss last weekend, USC was projected to host by D1Baseball and Baseball America. After the sweep, Kingston’s club fell out of those projections and to No. 15 in RPI.
Needing to stay in that top 20 to maintain a chance at hosting, South Carolina can ill afford to drop a third consecutive series. But at least publicly, Kingston downplayed the notion that there is extra pressure to win this set against the Bulldogs.
“You’re just trying to win as many games as you can, whether that’s Opening Day, whether that’s Week 11, Week 14. You’re just trying to win games, and that stuff takes care of itself,” Kingston said. “Thinking about that, belaboring the point that the regionals are being announced soon doesn’t help you win any games, it doesn’t help you win a pitch. So, our focus just has to be on the field, and let all the outside things take care of themselves.”
NEXT USC BASEBALL GAME
Who: No. 19 South Carolina (27-15, 11-10 SEC) vs. No. 4 Mississippi State (33-10, 14-7)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Founder Park
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
