The South Carolina Gamecocks have found out where they are headed for postseason baseball in 2024.
The Gamecocks will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina, as the #2 seed in the Raleigh regional, hosted by the North Carolina State Wolfpack. The James Madison Dukes and Bryant Bulldogs are the respective #3 and #4 seeds in this regional. South Carolina will play their first game at 2:00 PM ET on Friday against James Madison.
The Gamecocks will look to advance to the super regionals in back-to-back years for the first time since their 2010 and 2011 runs to the National Championship.
Coming off what many would say was an unexpected run in the SEC Tournament, South Carolina will look to build off of that, and see if they can potentially pull the upset off in Raleigh. The Gamecock's pitching and defense will certainly have to step it up a bit more than they did in Hoover last week. Cole Messina and the offense had things rolling, and they will look to continue doing that in Raleigh starting on Friday.
I believe that the Gamecocks got about as favorable of a draw as they could have, meaning I believe the Gamecocks would not have stood a chance had they been placed in the Chapel Hill, Greenville, or Clemson regional. South Carolina has a chance to pull off the upset in Raleigh, and here's why I think they'll do it.
As are most regionals, I believe NC State and South Carolina will be the two teams battling it out to decide a regional winner. James Madison and Bryant should not give South Carolina or NC State any issues during the weekend. The Wolfpack and Gamecocks matched up last year in the Columbia regional, with South Carolina getting the 6-3 victory.
Both teams are much different this, with NC State seeming to be a much better team than they were one year ago and South Carolina seeming to be a much worse team. The Wolfpack have picked up huge series victories this year over Duke, North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State, and Wake Forest. I do find it surprising that they have won all of these series, considering they have a 6.30 team ERA, which is 4th worst in the ACC.
The Wolfpack are also in the bottom half of the ACC in batting average as well, which leads me to believe their #10 overall national seed may be a bit of a fluke.
The Gamecocks have what it takes to win this regional. As a I said earlier, they have a much better chance in this regional than they would have against the like of North Carolina, East Carolina, and Clemson. The injury to Gavin Casas hurts the depth of the Carolina lineup a bit, but I still believe the Gamecocks will be able to produce more quality at-bats than the Wolfpack throughout the weekend.
I believe the struggles of NC State will continue and the Gamecocks will take advantage of that. I think the pitching will answer the call, the offense will pick up where they left off in Hoover, and the South Carolina Gamecocks will win the Raleigh regional and will get a rematch with Georgia in the Super Regionals.
One other thing that could come from South Carolina winning this regional and that would be Mark Kingston saving his job yet again.