Postseason baseball is coming back to South Carolina
For just the third time since 2016, postseason baseball is coming back to South Carolina and Founders Park.
The Gamecocks were announced as one of 16 regional host sites Sunday night. It’s the second time in three postseasons South Carolina will host a regional.
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The last time they did was in 2021 when the Gamecocks were the No. 2 seed in their own regional. Old Dominion the top seed in it.
South Carolina went 1-2 in that regional with a come-from-behind win over Virginia then consecutive one-run losses to ODU and again to the Cavaliers.
The last time South Carolina was a No. 1 seed in a regional was 2016 which the Gamecocks won and advanced to a Super Regional.
South Carolina was later eliminated by a red-hot Oklahoma State team.
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The Gamecocks earned the host site after a 39-19 regular season and going 16-13 in the SEC. They survived a tough stretch to end the regular season where they went 5-13 in the final month then 1-2 in the SEC Tournament.
South Carolina started the year 34-6 and 13-4 in the SEC and cooled tremendously for a variety of reasons. Injuries played a part, but there was also inconsistent pitching and sluggish offense to end the regular season.
The Gamecocks entered Sunday No. 8 in the RPI with a top five strength of schedule and 18 Quad I wins, top five in the country.
It’s the first time under Mark Kingston the Gamecocks are hosting as a likely No. 1 seed. They’ve been two-seeds in each of the other two regionals made since 2018.
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South Carolina went to ECU in 2018 and won the Greenville regional before ultimately finishing one game short to Arkansas. That Razorback team went on to finish national runner up in the College World Series.
The next was that 2021 season where South Carolina had chances but ultimately couldn’t make it out of a regional. The Gamecocks didn’t make the tournament in 2019 or 2022 with the 2020 tournament canceled.
South Carolina and the rest of the host sites will find out the full draw Monday at noon during the annual selection show.
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It will be televised on ESPN 2.
Whatever the Gamecocks’ draw looks like, the double-elimination bracket will start at some point Friday afternoon.
Kingston has not announced how the pitching well set up just yet for the regional.
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