How series loss at Kentucky affects South Carolina baseball’s postseason standing
The South Carolina baseball team needs to be careful.
A couple of weeks ago, the Gamecocks (36-11, 14-9 SEC) were playing like an Omaha shoo-in, sweeping then-No. 3 Florida at home while leading the country in home runs. But an injury-riddled USC team is suddenly reeling, losing a third-straight game at Kentucky on Sunday 9-2 to drop its second-straight SEC series and suffer its first sweep of the season.
Mark Kingston’s squad will undoubtedly slide from its No. 3 spot in the rankings after its fifth loss in the last seven games. But more importantly for the Gamecocks, they might be playing their way out of the national seed conversation.
Kentucky (33-13, 14-10) is not a team to take lightly. The Wildcats rank first in the country in both RPI and strength of schedule and likely played their way into hosting consideration with this weekend’s sweep. Because of Kentucky’s metrics, the road series loss shouldn’t torpedo USC’s RPI or strength of schedule, which sat at No. 3 and No. 10, respectively, as of Sunday afternoon.
But with just two weekend series remaining before the SEC tournament, the Gamecocks can ill afford to drop their upcoming series on the road at Arkansas or at home against Tennessee.
USC came into the weekend projected as the No. 4 national seed in D1Baseball’s field of 64, but the Gamecocks will drop a few notches — perhaps out of the top eight. It helps the Gamecocks that fellow SEC East teams Vanderbilt and Florida dropped their respective series this weekend, but the SEC has several teams competing with USC for one of the top eight seeds, and the postseason picture only became more muddled after this weekend.
The top 16 seeds in the NCAA tournament host the first round of regionals, but only the top eight seeds host during super regional play. The Gamecocks last hosted a regional in 2021 but were unable to advance. They missed the postseason last year with their first losing season since 1996.
Injuries to three-quarters of USC’s starting infield can help explain some of USC’s recent struggles — but they don’t tell the whole story.
The team’s weekend rotation has collectively slumped at an inopportune time. In the last two weekends, USC’s starting pitchers have combined for a 9.87 ERA, allowing 30 earned runs on 37 hits in 27.1 innings. USC’s lineup hasn’t been as potent with the missing hitters, but it’s difficult for any offense to climb out of deep holes on a consistent basis.
Next four USC baseball games
Tuesday: vs. North Florida, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Friday: at Arkansas, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Saturday: at Arkansas, 7:00 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Sunday: at Arkansas, 3:00 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Other key dates
SEC baseball tournament: May 23-28 in Hoover, Alabama
Regional hosts announced: evening of Sunday, May 28
NCAA selection show: noon Monday, May 29 on ESPN2
This story was originally published May 7, 2023 at 5:00 PM.
