South Carolina baseball mixing up pitching rotation for Arkansas series
No. 6 South Carolina has tweaked its starting rotation heading into its weekend series at No. 3 Arkansas.
The Gamecocks (36-12, 14-9 SEC) have lost six of their last eight games and dropped back-to-back SEC series. Though injuries to the team’s infield are partly to blame, USC’s starting pitching has been a bigger issue of late. In the last two weekends against Auburn and Kentucky, Gamecock starting pitchers have allowed 30 runs on 37 hits in 27.1 innings — a 9.87 ERA.
With a national seed on the line for the NCAA Tournament, the Gamecocks are tweaking their rotation, starting right-hander Eli Jones in the Friday game, going with TBA on Saturday and left-hander Matthew Becker will maintain his Sunday role.
Will Sanders won’t make the trip due to a “slight lower body injury,” head coach Mark Kingston said Thursday. Starter Jack Mahoney will pitch out of the bullpen. With rain in the forecast at Arkansas, it’s possible the weekend schedule could shift.
Sanders is the second injured starting pitcher for the Gamecocks, who also lost senior right-hander Noah Hall to a back injury. There’s no timetable for either pitcher’s return. Sanders opened the season as the team’s ace, with Hall pitching behind him and Jack Mahoney starting on Sunday.
The right-hander Sanders was expected to make a leap in his junior year but has instead taken a step back, going 4-3 with a 5.75 ERA and giving up 10 home runs in 11 games. The Gamecocks skipped Sanders’ turn in the rotation earlier in the season against Mississippi State, but he has continued to struggled and Kingston said his lower-body injury has been “lingering.”
“I don’t want to give too much information, but I would say slightly lingering,” Kingston said. “It’s very minor, but it’s just something that he wants to work through, and we’re going to be very smart with him on it.”
Kingston said that Mahoney — who has given up 11 runs in his last two starts — will pitch in a swing role as a “weapon” out of the bullpen. Mahoney’s ERA has jumped to 4.42 after struggling through the last two weekends.
Jones, a sophomore right-hander, will make his second Game 1 start of the season for the Gamecocks after also pitching in Sanders’ role during the Mississippi State series. Jones has gone 4-2 with 3.38 in 37.1 innings, striking out 42 to 10 walks. Jones has appeared in 17 games, making just three starts, but he’s earned the confidence Kingston and pitching coach Justin Parker.
“He’s a mature kid,” Kingston said. “He has good enough stuff. He’s he’s 92 to 94 (mph), good command, he throws strikes. He has a slider that can keep guys off balance that he commands, as well. So he’s just a good stable presence there to set the tone for the weekend.”
Next four USC baseball games
Friday: at Arkansas, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Saturday: at Arkansas, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Sunday: at Arkansas, 3:00 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Tuesday: vs. Charlotte, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
This story was originally published May 11, 2023 at 1:14 PM.
