The injury bug has followed South Carolina all season, and Wednesday night’s win over Wofford was no different.

First, USC got backup catcher Dante Rosenberg back. On April 14, USC announced that Rosenberg would undergo surgery after breaking the hamate bone in his left wrist – a common baseball injury – and that he was expected to miss six to eight weeks. He ended up missing about three and a half weeks.

But on the night that Rosenberg returned, USC saw its leading hitter, first baseman LB Dantzler, fall while running the bases, and dislocate his left shoulder.

Moreover, the Gamecocks played again Wednesday without right fielder Connor Bright, who has been dealing with a right shoulder impingement since getting hurt in the series finale at LSU, on April 28. Bright played in the first of USC’s three games since then, but not in the two most recent.

Dantzler is first on the team with a .343 batting average, .645 slugging percentage, .452 on-base percentage, 12 home runs and 44 runs batted-in. Bright’s batting average, .309, is tied for second on the team. The only other USC player hitting better than .300 is shortstop Joey Pankake (.309).

Continue reading “The good news about LB Dantzler’s shoulder, and whether he and Connor Bright might play vs. Georgia” »

South Carolina announced Thursday that it won’t open the 2015 football season by traveling to East Carolina, but rather, with a more interesting non-conference game – against North Carolina in Charlotte, at the Carolina Panthers’ stadium.

The game will be Sept. 5, a Saturday, which was the day USC was supposed to play at ECU. Other details for Gamecocks-Tar Heels (TV, ticket sales information, kickoff time) will be announced later, but USC said Thursday that each school would get 12,500 tickets.

USC is 17-34-4 all-time against North Carolina. They met every year from 1949-70. Both schools were original members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which began in 1953. USC left the league after the 1970 season. Since then, it has played North Carolina 11 times – 1974, 1977-79, 1981, 1983, 1988-91 and 2007 – and is 6-5 in those games.

Continue reading “USC and UNC to open 2015 against each other in Charlotte, and looking at USC’s future non-league schedules” »

South Carolina has some work to do in its final two series, and the Southeastern Conference tournament, if it wants to receive a top eight national seed in the NCAA tournament.

That much we know.

The Gamecocks host Wofford tonight, and cannot afford a slipup in that game, nor in their other remaining non-league game, against Presbyterian next Tuesday. Georgia comes to Columbia this weekend as the SEC’s worst team, with a 17-28 overall record and 5-16 league mark. Then USC finishes the regular season by traveling to Mississippi State, which is 36-13 and 13-11.

If the Gamecocks take care of business against Wofford and Presbyterian, sweep Georgia and win two of three at Mississippi State, it could bode well their chances of getting a national seed. They are currently on the outside of that group, after going 0-2 against Vanderbilt to end a challenging three-series stretch that began with a sweep of Kentucky and a 2-1 trip to LSU.

Of course, they will have chances to get more quality wins at the SEC tournament, as well.

Continue reading “Analyzing why getting a national seed could matter tremendously to USC” »

As expected, South Carolina’s Sunday series finale against second-ranked Vanderbilt was rained out. Per Southeastern Conference rules, it will not be made up. So USC will play, at most, 29 SEC games this season – the same number it played last season.

If you had a ticket to Sunday’s game, it will be honored either Wednesday night against Wofford or for next weekend’s home finale series against Georgia.

So why was Sunday’s game not moved to Saturday, as a doubleheader?

The series’ first two games, which USC lost, were televised on SportSouth and Sunday’s was supposed to be on CSS. But USC coach Chad Holbrook said television had nothing to do with why a doubleheader was not played on Saturday.

Continue reading “Holbrook on why USC tried to play Sunday, national seed importance and wanting more power pitching” »

Since joining the Southeastern Conference in 1992, South Carolina has never been swept at home twice in the same season.

The Gamecocks will try to avoid that fate on Sunday at noon against Vanderbilt – in a game that was moved up from 1 p.m. because of rain in the forecast.

USC has been swept at home just five times period since 1992 – in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1999 and this season. The 1999 sweep against Kentucky included two seven-inning games.

Here are the times since 1992 that USC has been swept multiple times in a season …

Continue reading “In SEC era, USC has never been swept at home twice in same season. Will it happen Sunday vs. Vanderbilt?” »