Baseball Opens Super Regional Play Friday at Florida

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina baseball team will play in its 14th super regional in school history as the Gamecocks travel to Gainesville, Fla., to face second-seeded Florida in the Gainesville Super Regional. The series starts on Friday night (June 9) at 6 p.m. at Condron Family Ballpark. Game two of the series will be Saturday afternoon (June 10) at 3 p.m., with an if necessary third game Sunday, June 11.

All Gainesville Super Regional games will be broadcast on ESPN2 with Dave Neal and Chris Burke on the call. All games also will be broadcast on the Gamecocks Sports Network from Learfield with Derek Scott and Tommy Moody on the call.

The Gamecocks won the Columbia Regional this past weekend, outscoring its opponents 41-11 after defeating Campbell, 16-7 in the regional final game. Gavin Casas was named the Columbia Regional MVP and was one of six Gamecocks on the All-Regional team.

SCOUTING FLORIDA
The Gators won the Gainesville Regional by winning three games in two days after falling to Texas Tech on Saturday night. Florida defeated UConn, 8-2, on Sunday morning and beat Texas Tech by scores of 7-1 and 6-0 to advance to the Super Regionals. Jac Caglianone was the Gainesville Regional Most Valuable Player and one of six Gators on the All-Regional team. Wyatt Langford leads Florida with a .387 batting average, while Caglianone has 31 home runs and 84 RBI. Florida leads the SEC and is tied for third in the country with 126 home runs. On the mound, Caglianone is 7-3 with a 3.78 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 69 innings pitched.

SERIES VS. FLORIDA
Carolina holds a 54-51 series advantage on Florida heading into the weekend. The Gamecocks swept the Gators in the regular season, winning 13-3 in seven innings on Thursday (April 20) and 5-2 and 7-5 on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Ethan Petry was 5-for-11 with two home runs and eight RBI in the series while Will Sanders struck out 10 in a six-inning start on Thursday night. Florida won the last series played in Gainesville, taking 2-of-3 to end the 2022 regular season.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Friday
South Carolina James Hicks (R-Jr. RHP) 8-1, 3.61 ERA, 62.1 IP, 14 BB, 54 K
Florida Brandon Sproat (Jr. RHP) 7-3, 4.70 ERA, 90.0 IP, 38 BB, 113 K

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Carolina is 140-71 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks won back-to-back College World Series titles in 2010 and 2011 and have made 11 trips to the College World Series. This is the 33rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the 14th appearance in the Super Regionals. Carolina has faced Florida three times in the NCAA Tournament and are 3-0 with a pair of wins to take the 2011 College World Series and a 7-3 win to open the 2012 College World Series.

GAMECOCKS AND GATORS ARE SUPER
South Carolina and Florida are both in the top seven of all-time super regional appearances. Both teams are making their first appearance in a super regional since 2018. The Gamecocks are tied with Cal State Fullerton and Stanford with 14 appearances while Florida is seventh with 11 appearances.

Florida State                                 17              99-00-01-02-03-04-05-08-09-10-11-12-13-15-16-17-19
LSU                                                16              99-00-01-02-03-04-08-09-12-13-15-16-17-19-21-23
South Carolina                            14              00-01-02-03-04-06-07-10-11-12-13-16-18-23
Cal State Fullerton                       14              99-01-03-04-05-06-07-08-09-10-13-15-17-18
Stanford                                       14              99-00-01-02-03-06-08-11-12-14-19-21-22-23
Texas                                            13              00-02-03-04-05-09-10-11-14-18-21-22-23
Miami                                           12              99-00-01-02-03-04-05-06-08-10-15-16
Florida                                          11              04-05-09-10-11-12-15-16-17-18-23

ALL-REGIONAL TEAM
Gavin Casas was named the Columbia Regional Most Valuable Player as he was 6-for-13 with six runs scored, two doubles and six RBI. He was joined on the All-Regional team by Braylen Wimmer, Talmadge LeCroy, Ethan Petry, Will McGillis and James Hicks. LeCroy drove in five runs in the regional championship win over Campbell on June 4.

PITCHING STOUT IN REGIONAL PLAY
The South Carolina pitching staff walked just three batters in 27 innings in the Columbia Regional while striking out 33 batters in three wins. James Hicks, who was named to the All-Regional team, allowed just one hit in five innings while striking out six in the win over Central Connecticut State. Jack Mahoney also had six strikeouts in six innings, allowing three runs with no walks in a win over NC State. Will Sanders made two appearances and struck out eight while allowing one hit in four innings.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE HITTING
The Gamecocks hit .357 with 41 runs scored, eight doubles, five home runs, a .557 slugging percentage, 30 walks and a .507 on-base percentage in the three games of the regional. Talmadge LeCroy was 6-for-11 with six runs scored and six RBI. Carolina had seven players hit above .300 in the regional.