New weekend means a clean slate.
No. 22 South Carolina looks to get off to a good start in a critical three-game set with No. 3 Texas A&M on Friday. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.
Right-hander Eli Jones (2-0, 2.45 ERA) makes the start on the bump for the Gamecocks.
GamecockCentral is here at Founders Park to provide live updates throughout the night.
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Mark Kingston turning page after midweek loss: ‘Endure the disappointment, correct it and move on’
By: Jack Veltri
There’s no such thing as an “easy game” in college baseball. Any given night, anything can happen. That’s one of the many beauties of this game.
But sometimes, you expect to win certain games, midweek matchups in particular. For teams like South Carolina, it’s a chance to get some fresh faces in there and build momentum before a big SEC series.
Up to this week, the Gamecocks had been great in these spots, not dropping a midweek contest yet. Meanwhile, other teams around the country were losing to lesser teams everywhere you looked.
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And on Wednesday, South Carolina finally fell victim to this trend, losing 8-0 against Georgia Southern.
“I mean, all you have to do is look at this week before we even played last night,” head coach Mark Kingston said on Carolina Calls on the Gamecock Sports Network. “Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU had all lost these midweek games. It happens. It was our first one of the year. Didn’t expect it.”
For the Gamecocks, it was just one of those nights where things weren’t going their way. Despite striking out 17 batters, Georgia Southern was able to come through in some big, early spots to jump out in front. The Eagles also happened to get a strong outing in what was a bullpen game for them.
“I can’t say I showed up to the park thinking we were going to play the way we did and Georgia Southern would play the way they did,” Kingston said. “But it’s a good program. Georgia Southern’s a good program. They hosted a regional as recently as two years ago. It’s a good, good college baseball program.
“If you had told me before the game the wind would be blowing out, we’d strike them out 17 times to only four walks, I’d say it was going to be a very good night for us. But it wasn’t, it just wasn’t.”
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It also didn’t help that South Carolina’s offense was almost non-existent on Wednesday. Outside of the top three hitters in the lineup, who all had one hit apiece, the rest of the order went a combined 1-for-18. The Gamecocks were 0-for-10 with runners on base, which led to being shutout.
Now, they’ll have to flip the page rather quickly as No. 3 Texas A&M comes into town for a three-gamer series, starting on Friday. And it seems Kingston has already started doing so.
“No excuses. You’ve got to move on,” he said. “But all things considered, before last night, we’re 17-1 at home and it’s the first midweek loss of the year. So you’ve just got to sometimes endure the disappointment, correct it and move on.”
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