The South Carolina baseball program had a spot recently, with Richmond canceling its series scheduled for the fourth weekend of this year’s season. Gamecocks moved quickly to find a replacement, and an important series is emerging.
South Carolina will travel to Texas this year for a three-game game between March 12 and March 14, news that was first reported by D1Baseball analyst Kendall Rogers.
What Rogers did not report and what TheBigSpur.com learned is that Gamecocks will host the Longhorns in a series of three games in 2022.
This is the first time that South Carolina and Texas have met in a series of three games. The two teams met on three separate occasions, with the Longhorns winning all three games. Texas and South Carolina met for the first time in 1975 and again more recently in 2002.
All three meetings in the series took place at the College World Series, with two of them taking place in 1975. The Longhorns won 17-6 on June 12, 1975 and then eliminated the Gamecocks with a 5-1 victory two days later . In 2002, Texas defeated South Carolina 12-6 to win the national championship.
South Carolina announced a partial non-conference schedule last week, which included an opening series of the season against Dayton, then the typical series of three rotating website games against Clemson and Mercer. The following weekend, however, became vacant due to the cancellation by Richmond.
This allowed South Carolina to act quickly, adding Texas, a school that Gamecocks only played in Omaha, Nebraska, at the College World Series.
This is a very challenging picture for Gamecocks this year, even beyond normal. Each Southeast Conference team faces four opponents from the opposite division. The four SEC West opponents that Gamecocks will face are all ranked in the top 12 in the D1Baseball preseason survey.
Clemson is always a challenge, while Mercer is one of the most consistent programs in the country, regardless of level. Bears are one of four shows – joining FSU, LSU and Vanderbilt – that have 10 consecutive seasons with 35 wins or more.