This weekend is the biggest series of the year thus far for South Carolina Baseball and could be a tone steer for the rest of the season. Can South Carolina find a way to "circle the wagons" and be competitive with the top ranked team in the nation, Texas? The Gamecocks are coming off a being swept by Clemson for the 1st time since 1999, last weekend. They also were handed an 8 run loss by Xavier on Tuesday night, 15-7.
Texas comes in ranked #1 nationally and is 12-2 on the season. The Longhorns are 5-0 thus far against SEC teams. They swept Alabama in a 3 game series, and have wins in single game sets over Tennessee and LSU. Texas also swept a three game series from in-state foe Rice. Their losses have come to UCLA and in a split of a two game series earlier this week vs Texas State.
The Texas lineup features four hitters with a .300 or better average. Murphy Stehly leads the club in average hitting .431 with a .464 on-base percentage. Ivan Melendez leads them in homers with 4 and has a team leading 20 RBI. RHP Tristan Stevens has yet to give up a run this season in 19 innings of work and is 3-0. Lefty Pete Hansen is 2-0 on the year with a 0.53 ERA.
South Carolina has some pieces to the puzzle and has had some bright spots. They just haven't put it altogether as of yet. Michael Braswell is ripping the cover off the ball, leading the team with a .449 average, which puts him 5th currently in the SEC. Andrew Eyster is 8th in the league in average hitting .408. Catcher Colin Burgess has been named to the Buster Posey Award Watch list, primarily for his defensive prowess.
The series will open Friday at 1 PM, the start time has been moved up due to forecasted inclement weather. The Longhorns will send the southpaw Hansen to the hill in the opener. Saturday's game is set for 4 PM and will air on SEC Network, Stevens is set to take the hill for Texas in that one. Neither team has announced a starter for Sunday's series finale which is set for a 1:30 1st pitch.
