Analyzing South Carolina's SEC Tournament draw
A pivotal end to South Carolina’s season starts Tuesday afternoon.
The Gamecocks begin SEC Tournament play this afternoon with Will Sanders on the mound and needing a deep run to get into the NCAA tournament.
To address the elephant in the room: South Carolina won’t find itself in any sort of NCAA Regional unless the Gamecocks find their way to likely the weekend or win the entire tournament.
They’re No. 67 in the RPI as of Monday night, nowhere near good enough for an at-large bid. The Gamecocks would have to get into the 40s at minimum to also feel good about their postseason footing.
South Carolina will have to go on a run away from home where the Gamecocks are 6-15 this season (4-14 on the road, 2-1 neutral site).
That’s going to be hard to do without a string of wins in the tournament, a place even South Carolina’s best teams have struggled.
They’ll play Florida in the second game of the day, roughly 2 p.m. ET, with their ace Will Sanders getting the ball.
Sanders has been at worst the team’s second-best pitcher this season, going against a Gators lineup he only threw 28 pitches against on Saturday.
South Carolina will face right-hander Brandon Sproat, one of the few Gator arms hitters had success against this weekend. Sproat gave up four runs, two earned, in 6.1 innings.
The Gamecocks had four hits, three doubles, and got hit three times.
It’ll be a Florida team that has a postseason spot locked up and would also need to go on a run to get into the hosting conversation.
If South Carolina wins, it’ll be facing Texas A&M in the first game of a double-elimination bracket.
The Gamecocks went 1-2 in College Station this year but hit well against the Aggies. They were also up nine runs in the middle innings in Game 2 against the Aggies before falling to an incredible A&M comeback.
After that, they would be playing either Georgia, Arkansas or Alabama in the winner’s or losers’ bracket. The Gamecocks were 1-2 against Georgia and swept Alabama. They did not play the Razorbacks.
It’s certainly a navigable path through the SEC Tournament against teams that have struggled on the mound this season.
The biggest hurdle at the moment is getting through Florida, a team that dominated the first 18 innings of their series.
But there’s more at stake this week than just getting into the tournament.
If the Gamecocks don’t win two games in Hoover, they’ll finish below .500 on the year. If South Carolina does have a losing record, it will be the first time since 1996.
First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for roughly 2 p.m. ET with the loser eliminated from the tournament.
