By Sinderella
Over the weekend, South Carolina earned a series sweep over Longwood, improving their season record to 13-3.
Head Coach Mark Kingston's squad has struggled all year to hit the ball with runners on base and even though they did leave 32 on over three games, they still scored 42 runs with 36 hits over the weekend. The Gamecocks scored in 15 out of the 22 innings they came to bat.
Hitting for power (homeruns and extra base hits) has lacked this season compared to last season, when South Carolina was among the best in the country for power hitting. Well, this series it looks like South Carolina is getting some of that old mojo from last season back, as they hit 11 doubles and 9 home runs.
Don't worry, South Carolina still leads the country in bases on balls, as they racked up 31 walks over the weekend,18 of them coming during Sunday's 22-6 win. It was a weekend series in which South Carolina could take advantage of from Longwood's lack of pitching depth, and they did exactly what they needed to do right before SEC play starts.
Conversely, South Carolina's pitching was dominant again, holding Longwood to only eight runs, six of them came on Sunday with only one of them was earned. Gamecock hurlers combined for 24 innings pitched, 28 strikeouts, 8 walks, and only 3 earned runs. As I mentioned in my series preview, Longwood has one of the best contact hitting teams and overall offenses in the country this season. Even though the opponent was a mid-major, this is a weekend performance in which the pitching staff can feel really good.
As we look forward, South Carolina goes on the road to play Georgia State and opens SEC play against Ole Miss this week. I'll have a series preview for the Ole Miss series, which could be very interesting in view of how the Rebels have been playing lately. Georgia State is currently 8-8 and has been outscored 25-0 in their two midweek games versus Power Five teams Georgia and Georgia Tech. Given the difficulty no matter the opponent, I'm not predicting a shutout over Georgia State, but South Carolina should continue their winning ways as they end non-conference play and begin conference play.
(All pictures courtesy of @GamecockBll)
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