12 SEC baseball teams are playing fall exhibition games. Why USC isn’t one of them
Fall ball has arrived in Columbia.
South Carolina officially began team practices Monday for the 2024 baseball season. The Gamecocks finished No. 13 in the final D1Baseball rankings for 2023 after a Super Regionals appearance against national champion runner-up Florida.
South Carolina has its first team scrimmages at 3:45 p.m. Thursday and 3 p.m. Friday at Founders Park. Those are free and open to the public.
Head coach Mark Kingston shared some of his thoughts Monday about those fall scrimmages, finalizing the 2024 game schedule and player injuries and availability.
No exhibition game
It’s common for programs to play exhibition games with other schools, both conference and nonconference opponents, in the fall months. But the Gamecocks will only be playing intrasquad scrimmages, Kingston said.
The reason: He doesn’t want to limit reps for players who are fighting to make the starting nine. South Carolina has played fall scrimmages before against outside teams, and Kingston suggested the Gamecocks didn’t always see the benefits in the actual regular seasons that followed.
“We’ve seen it both ways,” he said. “I did see enough value in the times we did play outside competition in the fall, and those just so happened to coincide with the seasons we had that we weren’t quite happy with the following spring. So maybe a little bit of a superstition too, so who knows?”
Kingston said the pitching rotation, shortstop and the outfield have some open competition. By playing another program, there’s less of an opportunity for more from the Gamecocks roster to see scrimmage time.
“I just like the format we had last fall where every day we just got to enter it against each other because more guys get to participate.” Kingston said.
South Carolina and Arkansas are the only Southeastern Conference teams opting to not play the exhibition games against other schools.
According to D1Baseball, 12 SEC teams have fall exhibitions scheduled, with a few of conference teams playing each other: Kentucky, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, LSU.
Elsewhere on campus, the USC softball team has seven fall scrimmages planned against such teams as Duke, Wofford and Winthrop.
Nonconference schedule nearly complete
USC already announced its conference schedule and has its annual three-game rivalry series against Clemson ready. But the remaining three nonconference series aren’t ready to be announced until contracts are finalized.
At this point, Kingston said the opponents are solidified and all that’s left is to sign on the dotted line.
“That’s usually the last piece of the puzzle for when you release it,” Kingston said. “But those will be released sooner rather than later.”
The neutral-site game location against the Tigers hasn’t been released yet either, and Kingston said he believes the decision will be made by “higher-ups.” The two programs held a deal for four years to play in either Columbia (Segra Park) or Greenville (Fluor Field), and that contract expired last season.
Those ballparks could be in contention to host the neutral-site game again, with such cities as Myrtle Beach and Charleston also possible options.
Who’s out, and for how long?
Two Gamecocks likely won’t play at all in 2024. Right-handed pitchers Eli Jerzembeck and Reese Marcum both had Tommy John surgery and Kingston said he doesn’t expect them to play.
Five other players, all recovering from injuries of their own, will see limited action — if any — during fall ball: Roman Kimball, Ricky Williams, Chris Veach, Jake McCoy and Michael Polk.
McCoy and Polk both joined USC this offseason from the transfer portal, committing to the Gamecocks in July. Kingston said he’s planning to be “conservative” with their participation level in fall but expects them to play in spring.
“Those guys will most likely not pitch this fall,” he said. “Obviously things can change but we’re going to be conservative with those pitchers to make sure they’re ready for the spring.”
USC added a new pitching coach, Matt Williams, this offseason, who Kingston said has received good reports from the team and an easy transition.
“It’s been a very seamless transition,” Kingston said. “I liked Matt Williams. His success not only in college and having some of the best apps in the country, but also his experience with the San Diego Padres.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2023 at 3:20 PM.
