Go Time: Gamecocks host Arkansas in opening SEC series

WHAT: Arkansas (15-3) at South Carolina (17-2)

WHERE: Founders Park, Columbia, SC;

WHEN: Friday 7:30 p.m.; Saturday 4 p.m.; Sunday 1:30 p.m.

RADIO/TV: Gamecock Radio Network (Friday on 1320 AM; Saturday and Sunday on 107.5 FM in Columbia with Andy Demetra and Tommy Moody); SEC Network Plus (Derek Scott and Trey Dyson).

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS:

Friday: USC RHP Clarke Schmidt (4-0, 0.32 ERA, 28.1 IP, 32 K, 5 BB) vs. ARK RHP Dominic Taccolini (3-0, 2.16 ERA, 25.0 IP, 23 K, 5 BB)

Saturday: USC RHP Braden Webb (3-1, 1.80 ERA, 20.0 IP, 21 K, 13 BB) vs. ARK TBA

Sunday: USC RHP Aaron Hill (4-0, 0.47 ERA, 19.1 IP, 32 K, 3 BB) vs. ARK RHP Keaton McKinney (0-0, 6.46 ERA, 15.1 IP, 4 K, 9 BB)

A couple of weeks ago, South Carolina coach Chad Holbrook described the Gamecocks’ first three weekends in the SEC as “Murderers Row.”

Riding a seven-game winning streak, USC opens conference Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Arkansas in the first of a three-game weekend series at Founders Park. Next two weekends? The Gamecocks travel to Ole Miss (March 24-26) and Vanderbilt (March 31-April 2).

All three upcoming opponents are currently ranked in the Top 25 of most major national polls.

Holbrook, though, just wants his team focusing on the proverbial one game at a time.

“One hundred percent of my focus is on Arkansas Friday night,” Chad Holbrook said Wednesday. “You can’t get too far ahead of yourself in this league. If you look at the schedule, it’s difficult. As a coach, I’ve done that. But I’m telling my team that we’re taking this thing one game at a time and try to play our best baseball on Friday.

“You might say we play 10 three-game series. I tell our team it’s really 30 one-game series. If you lose a tough one in this league, and you will, you can’t bring that loos to the ballpark the next day. Each of the 30 games must be separated. Every game in this league is a 490-yard, par 4 with a lot of sand and water and a narrow fairway.”

The Gamecocks enter the Arkansas series in good spirits after accumulating 27 runs and 35 hits in the last two games against USC Upstate and Davidson. The staff ERA is an impressive 1.97 and USC has allowed more than five runs only once (Tuesday’s 12-6 win over USC Upstate in Greenville). Projected weekend starters Clarke Schmidt, Braden Webb and Adam Hill are a combined 11-1.

Webb and Hill are true freshmen getting their first taste of the SEC. Holbrook, though, believes both talented right-handers are capable of deftly handling the enormous pressure that comes with pitching in this conference.

“I don’t look at them as freshmen, I’m throwing my three best pitchers,” Holbrook said. “Al three guys in our starting rotation have earned the right. Those that have thrown the best will start this weekend. We have guys that can help them. We are going to ask them to throw strikes, work ahead (in the count) and give our team a chance to win. What we ask out of our starting pitchers doesn’t change just because the opponent changes. They have thrown well, so I see no reason to change anything right now.”

Defensively, the Gamecocks have committed just three errors in the last eight game - 13 overall in 19 games – for a team fielding percentage of .981. Only two players have committed more than one error.

“We’ve played pretty well through 19 games,” Holbrook said. “We’ve had a couple of games where I wasn’t very pleased (consecutive losses to Clemson), but that’s baseball. You can’t play perfect and great all the time. A lot of that is dictated by the other guy on the mound. We’ve played clean baseball. We have a group that gets along with each other and loves being at the park and loves going to work and loves practicing. We have a comfortable locker room.”

While encouraged by USC’s fast start in the won-lost department, Holbrook realizes the Gamecocks must take their game to the next level in order to compete successfully in the SEC.

“As we all know, this (the SEC) is a different animal starting on Friday,” Holbrook said. “We have 30 opportunities. We’re not going to out-talent people. You’re not necessarily going to be the better team on the field. You have to outplay people, play better and execute better.

“You have to play defense and throw strikes, and you have to do it consistently over the course of 30 games to have a good regular season. You are going to take some lumps. Hopefully, we can continue to play consistent baseball and give ourselves a chance to win our fair share.”

Arkansas features one of the top closers in the SEC in Zach Jackson, who has 16 strikeouts and nine hits allowed in 12.1 innings pitched with three saves in seven appearances. Friday night starter Dominic Taccolini is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA in 25.0 innings, allowing just 12 hits with 23 strikeouts.

Taccolini has yet to throw a wild pitch or allow an extra base hit this season as opponents are batting just .143 against him.

“With Jackson, if they have a lead late in the game, it’s very difficult because he is probably the most dominant closer in college baseball,” Holbrook said. “Taccolini is going to get them off to a good start. He is very good with good numbers. Arkansas is very well coached. You have to beat those guys, you have to out-execute them. They are not going to give you the game. They are very competitive offensive one through nine.”

Carson Shaddy leads Arkansas in all three Triple Crown categories with a .391 batting average with five homers and 18 RBI in 17 games. Clark Eagan is hitting .333 with two homers and 17 RBI.

“They have some guys who can hit the ball out of the park,” Holbrook said. “They steal bases and put pressure on you defensively with the short game and they have power arms on their pitching staff. Luckily, we get them at home.”

Arkansas is ranked No. 13 in the USA Today coaches poll, No. 14 by D1Baseball, No. 15 by the NCBWA and No. 17 by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball.

SEC SCHEDULE (March 18-20)

(ALL THREE GAME SERIES)

Arkansas at South Carolina

Missouri at Florida

Kentucky at Georgia

Ole Miss at Tennessee

Texas A&M at Auburn

Alabama at LSU

Mississippi State at Vanderbilt

STATS + FACTS by DOUG ADAMS

South Carolina vs. Arkansas ... The Razorbacks lead the overall series 37-28 and holds a 14-13 edge in Columbia. The two teams last met in Fayetteville in 2014 with the Razorbacks taking two of three. Arkansas swept the Gamecocks in 2013 in Columbia. USC went 9-3 against Arkansas between 2010 and 2012 but Arkansas has won five of the last six in the series.

Going Deep ... USC has 16 home runs on the season. Last year, Carolina hit 43 in 57 games. John Jones, Dom Thompson-Williams, and Alex Destino are tied for the team lead with four. Last season, USC had three players with more than four home runs. Kyle Martin led the team with 14 while Max Schrock and Alex Destino were tied for second with six.

Doubles ... Carolina hit a season high seven doubles on Wednesday against Davidson. The previous season high was four against The Citadel on March 1, 2016 and USC Upstate on March 15, 2016.

Stolen Bases ... Carolina stole six bases on Wednesday night to tie its season high against Furman on March 9, 2016.

Scoring 10-Plus Runs in Two Straight Games ... USC has scored at least 10 runs in their last two games. (12 at USC Upstate and 15 vs. Davidson) The last time Carolina scored at least 10 in back-to-back games came in May 2015 when the Gamecocks scored 17 against USC Upstate on May 12, 2015 and 10 against LSU on May 14, 2015.

No Place Like Home ... USC is 15-0 at home this season. The Gamecocks have an overall record of 229-50 at Founders Park.

The 7-8-9 Hitters Against Davidson ... TJ Hopkins, DC Arendas and Marcus Mooney batted seven, eight and nine in the lineup on Wednesday night against the Wildcats. The three combined to go 9-11 with four doubles, eight runs batted in and eight runs scored.

DC Arendas ... Went 1-6 and scored a run in 2014 against Arkansas. ... Played in 18 games and made 12 starts. ... Three of his 10 this season are doubles.

Chris Cullen ... Batting .298 with 10 runs batted in on the season. ... Started 12 of the 14 games that he has played in.

John Jones ... Started all 19 games. ... Hitting .406 with four home runs and 23 runs batted in. ... He has reached base safely in 15 straight games.

Alex Destino ... Started all 19 games. ... Currently has an 11-game hitting streak. ... Hitting .351 on the season with four home runs and 20 runs batted in.

Gene Cone ... Recorded a career high four runs batted in on Wednesday against Davidson. His previous career high was three. ... Hitting .295 on the season with seven runs batted in. ... Went 0-1 against Arkansas in the 2014 series.

TJ Hopkins ... Went 3-5 with three runs scored and three runs batted in on Wednesday against Davidson. ... He had four runs scored and seven RBIs in the 12 games played prior to Davidson. ... Hitting .324 with one homer and 10 runs batted in.

Marcus Mooney ... Went 3-11 with one run batted in against Arkansas in 2014 ... Recorded four hits against Davidson on Wednesday night including two doubles. ... The four runs batted in against Davidson tied his season high of four against Brown on March 8, 2014. ... He went 4-5 with one run batted in and three runs scored at USC Upstate on Tuesday night.

Dom Thompson-Williams ... Has reached base safely in all 19 games this season. ... Has an eight-game hitting streak. ... Leads the team with nine stolen bases. Last season, Elliott Caldwell and Gene Cone were tied for the team lead with 13 stolen bases. ... Hitting .406 with four home runs and 15 runs batted in. ... Leads the team with 15 walks and 10 multiple-hit games.

LT Tolbert ... Started 17 of the 18 games that he has played in this season. ... He has made his last eight starts at first base. ... Batting .269 with one homer and nine runs batted in.

Jonah Bride ... He has started all 19 games at third base. ... Leads the Gamecocks with 10 hit by pitches. The USC school record is 21 by Brandon Walters in 1996. ... Hitting .277 with eight runs batted in and he has scored 21 runs.

Clarke Schmidt ... 4-0 with a 0.32 ERA in four starts. ... Allowed one run in 28.1 innings pitched. ... The only run he allowed this season came against Albany on February 19, 2016. ... In his last three starts, he has 26 strikeouts to one walk in 22.1 innings. ... Pitched at least six innings in all four starts. His season high in 2015 was 6.2 innings against Kentucky.

Braden Webb ... 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA in four starts. ... Pitched a season high 5.2 innings against Charleston Southern last Sunday. ... Has 21 strikeouts to 13 walks in 2016.

Adam Hill ... 4-0 with a 0.47 ERA in four starts. ... Has 32 strikeouts to three walks. ... Made his first weekend start against Charleston Southern last Sunday where he allowed no runs and four hits in 5.1 innings.

Josh Reagan ... Allowed two hits and no runs in 1.1 innings in 2014 at Arkansas. ... Leads the Gamecocks with six saves on the season. Taylor Widener led USC in 2015 with nine. ... Leads Carolina with eight appearances on the year. ... Allowed no runs, six hits and two walks in 13.2 innings of work.

Reed Scott ... Allowed two hits and three runs in 2.2 innings of work against the Razorbacks in 2014. ... 1-0 with a 3.55 ERA in seven appearances this season.

Matt Vogel ... Pitched one inning against Arkansas in 2014. He walked one and struck out one. ... Allowed one run and two hits in two innings of work against Davidson. He was credited with the win which was the first of his career.

Taylor Widener ... Pitched 1.2 innings against Arkansas in 2014. ... 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in four starts. ... Has 15 strikeouts to five walks in 16 innings pitched.

Scouting Arkansas ... The Razorbacks are 15-3 on the season and have won five in a row. ... This weekend at Founders Park is the Razorbacks first true road series of the season. They played three neutral-site games at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The Razorbacks defeated Rice, Houston and Texas Tech in those three games. ... Carson Shaddy leads Arkansas in batting averaging (.391), and home runs (5). ... Dominic Taccolini is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA in four starts this season. He leads the Hogs with 23 strikeouts and 25 innings pitched. ... Keaton McKinney started last Saturday for the Razorbacks. He is 0-0 with a 6.46 ERA in four starts this season. He has allowed 13 runs on 16 hits in 15.1 innings. ... Barrett Loseke started last Sunday for Arkansas. It was his first start of the season.