The expected signs of a spring in Palmetto state are on display this week: Carolina wrens and Carolina chickadees at backyard bird feeders and Carolina Gamecocks nervously meeting for high expectations.
It’s baseball season, when Gamecock fans think they can get back at Clemson in three sports on a glorious Friday night.
But first things and first steps first …
South Carolina is the intriguing 18th place in Baseball America’s preseason survey, which will open the season on February 19 against Dayton. Mark Kingston in his fourth year as a coach seems to have the right ingredients for a Super Regional candidate:
• Throwing depth
• Enough offensive attack to be dangerous in a difficult SEC neighborhood
• camaraderie
And, hopefully, the excavation inventory at Founders Park also doesn’t include the baggage collected by those Gamecock Nation members so frustrated with recent football and basketball struggles that baseball adversity is a target.
Football was 2-8 last fall, and coach Will Muschamp was fired.
Basketball, beset by more problems with COVID-19 than most programs, will apparently miss the NCAA tournament for the eighth time in Frank Martin’s nine seasons as head coach (although there was no 2020 tournament).
Baseball is a breath of fresh air.
There is positive flexibility and continued competition within the list.
“We will not be presenting the same schedule this year 70 times,” said Kingston, 50. “We will have a variety of lineups.”
The bullpen is so deep, said Kingston, non-conference games on Tuesday nights can feature “a bunch of guys who play a ticket or two”.
Gamecocks are selling South Carolina Cocky fan clippings: from $ 200 behind Zone K and $ 100 behind the circle on the deck to $ 30 on the Home Run deck in the stands on the left field.
Gamecock fans would be smarter if they cut conversations about football and basketball at the stadium.
Enjoy the success of baseball without dragging yourself in the Ole Miss football game.
Or the Ole Miss basketball game.
If the South Carolina baseball team misses a series, they also won’t miss the chance to upset Alabama in basketball or mismanage the clock against Florida in football.
Undoubtedly, the vibrations – positive and negative – impact the energy of the athletic department.
Former South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier attributed Ray Tanner’s 2010 and 2011 national baseball championship teams with the inspiration for Gamecocks’ series of three consecutive 11-2 seasons.
But this team, built in the right way through recruitment and methodical development, must be evaluated on its own merits.
Kingston this week named an initial rotation of junior redshirt Thomas Farr, senior Brannon Jordan and redshirt after Julian Bosnic. But he could have played a lot of names on one cap, chosen three and probably be competitive.
Thirteen of the pitchers averaged at least 91 mph during the fall. With room to improve.
Wes Clarke, Yaron Peters
Bosnic, a 6-3 southpaw from Lutz, Florida, on the outskirts of Tampa, hit 95 on the radar. He did not allow a run in his sixth working innings before the last season was interrupted by COVID-19. As the NCAA granted all spring 2020 sport athletes an extra year of eligibility, Bosnic, although officially listed as a second redshirt year under SEC recommendations, enters 2021 with four years remaining of eligibility.
An attack led by first baseman / receiver Wes Clarke and outfielders Brady Allen and Andrew Eyster is expected to hit better than the team average of 0.272 in 2020. There has been a strong emphasis on two-stroke strikes throughout the fall and winter.
Clarke can become viewing appointments. Perhaps leading the SEC with eight home runs in 2020 may not sound so dazzling, but the 6-2, 236-pound junior from Forest, Virginia, did it in just 56 hits.
This is one homer for every seven bats. Yaron Peters, who set the Gamecocks’ record for a single season at 29 in 2002, knocked out one out of every 9.6 hits.
But in another testament to the depth of Gamecock, Clarke enters the season without really having a foothold. Colin Burgess, from the second year of Redshirt, is the most reliable collector. David Mendham looks like the first starter on first base.
Clarke will probably serve a lot as a designated hitter.
SEC filing
It’s still a young team from South Carolina.
The SEC remains an ice obstacle course. Consider that eight conference players are among the 15 pitchers on Baseball America’s preseason All-America team.
That’s right: Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter of Vanderbilt, Jaden Hill of LSU, Ryan Webb of Georgia, Tommy Mace of Florida, Richard Fitts of Auburn, Gunnar Hoglund of Mississippi and Jackson Leath of Tennessee.
Again, preseason expectations are fragile from College Station to Lexington to Gainesville and back to Baton Rouge.
But South Carolina is good enough to accomplish one weekend this season that the basketball team was unable to do in 2021: win two consecutive SEC games.
By matching or surpassing the football team’s total wins in 2020.
Better to do the multisport comparison while celebrating the process.
Follow Gene Sapakoff on Twitter @sapakoff