Gamecocks excited for regional, not looking toward Clemson
When the Gamecocks saw where and who they will be playing in the NCAA Tournament, they saw a few unfamiliar faces, and a really familiar one.
The No. 1 seeded Gamecocks (42-15, 20-9 SEC) will host No. 2 UNC Wilmington, No. 3 Duke and No. 4 Rhode Island at home this weekend in the first round of the tournament.
If they win this miniature tournament, they turn around to face the winner of the Clemson regional hosted by the in-state rival Tigers. If both host teams win, the Gamecocks will be making the trip to the Upstate for a three-game series.
Clemson snuck into the top-eight national seeds as the No. 7 overall seed after a strong final month of the season and a tear through its conference tournament where it won the ACC title.
The pairing sets up a big weekend potentially for both schools, meaning only one has a chance of making it to the College World Series in Omaha.
“It’s awesome,” sophomore outfielder Alex Destino said. “Obviously it’s excited to think about a potential matchup there, but I know me personally and I can speak for the rest of the team when I say we’re worried about Rhode Island, UNC-W and Duke coming down here.”
With such a high profile matchup with an archrival potentially on the horizon, it can be easy for the Gamecocks to lose sight of the regional in front of them, but head coach Chad Holbrook is trying to reinforce playing in the moment.
All three teams coming to Columbia have at least 30 wins this season and Rhode Island won the Atlantic 10 conference title while UNC Wilmington finished runner-up in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.
“We got too much of a challenged this weekend to even put ourselves in a position to play in a Super Regional,” Holbrook said. “If for even one moment we think about any opponent or any game down the line, we’ll get our tails kicked. I’m not going to let our players or anybody focus on anything down the road.”
Coming into this year’s postseason, the Gamecocks only boast two seniors who have had extensive postseason experience: DC Arendas and Marcus Mooney. And only a few position players this year have even played in a postseason: Arendas, Mooney and Gene Cone.
With such a young lineup, it’ll be up to the seniors to help make sure the Gamecocks play up to the level they are capable of.
“For anyone in this moment, we all just want to enjoy it,” Arendas said. “We want to play the best we can and execute to the highest of our abilities. We have to focus on right now and not what’s next.”
South Carolina will start its postseason at Founders Park Friday at 7 p.m. EST against Rhode Island. Clarke Schmidt is expected to get the start against the Rams.
With all three teams formidable and the Gamecocks having less postseason experience on the roster than in years past, the younger guys are ready to fight and experience what postseason baseball in Columbia is all about.
“This is when the big boys come to play. We know it’s going to be exciting and we’re going to have to come to play,” Destino said. “I expect our fans to pack this place out and have a good time like we will.”
