Gamecocks look to continue strong play in midweek games

South Carolina will look to continue its strong play in midweek games on Wednesday night when the Gamecocks host USC Upstate at Founders Park.

USC is 9-2 in midweek games this year, including a 9-1 mark against schools outside of major conferences.

Last season the Gamecocks lost midweek games to Winthrop, Coastal Carolina, Presbyterian and Furman. The losses proved costly during the postseason selection process.

USC is 26-1 against teams with an RPI of 50 or higher this year, and will face the Spartans, who have an RPI of 236.

Upstate is 3-8 in its past 11 games, and South Carolina defeated the Spartans 12-6 in Greenville earlier this year.

After hosting USC Upstate, the Gamecocks will travel to Lexington for a three-game series with Kentucky beginning on Friday.

South Carolina, which is 15-5 in the SEC, leads the conference by one game over Florida.

The Gamecocks split a pair of games with the Gators last weekend before Game 3 was canceled because of bad weather. Florida won Game 1 of the series, 5-4, before South Carolina bounced back to earn a 2-1 win on Saturday. Sunday’s game was scoreless when weather interfered in the fourth inning.

USC coach Chad Holbrook said playing the top-ranked Gators tough for 2 1/2 games has his team confident.

“I think we acted like we belong, and that’s good for me … I think we played at a high level all weekend,” he said. “I feel good about how we competed and I hope our players go forward with some confidence because of the way we competed against those guys.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 9:43 PM.