Previewing Longwood

By: Sinderella

After wins during the midweek over the Citadel and Davidson, South Carolina hosts Longwood. Unlike last year, Longwood has come into this season not looking like an easy team to beat. In the early season, Longwood has produced one of the best offenses in the country , ranking #22 in runs scored and #11 in OBP. The quartet of Noah Campanelli, Hayden Harris, Drew Camp, and Willie Havens has been unstoppable. They average a .376 batting average and a .483 on-base percentage. This is a unit that can rival almost any other group of four in the country. They don't have a lot of power as a team as they've only hit 5 homeruns through the 12 games they have played, but they know how to get on base and they know how to score. Cole Messina is going to be challenged in this game as Longwood loves to steal and is very good at it as they have gone 23-27 in stolen bases, Noah Campanelli leads the team, succesfully stealing 9 bases in 11 attempts.

Longwood's weekend rotation is led by Brenton Fisher and Ethan Walker, who have been outstanding while the rest of the staff leaves a lot to be desired. Brenton Fisher (1-0 0.00era 14k 1bb) and Ethan Walker (1-0 1.64era 19k 6bb) have been dominant in their 3 appearances this season. As dominant as the two have been this season, Longwood's bullpen leaves a lot ot be desired, producing a team ERA of 6.66....scary. This is a staff that South Carolina matches up with perfectly. Longwood gives up a lot of walks and South Carolina should take advantage of that as they lead the country in walks. Overall, South Carolina matches up very well with Longwood and the talent difference is quite large, I have South Carolina getting the sweep.

(All pictures courtesy of @GamecockBll & @LongwoodBase)