Gavin Casas done for year. What's next at third base for South Carolina?

However far South Carolina goes in the postseason, it will have to do it without Gavin Casas.

On Thursday, head coach Mark Kingston announced Casas, the team’s starting third baseman, will be out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair his hamate bone.

“You’ve got to rely on the doctors, your athletic trainers, specialists, and once they say this is really the only option,” Kingston said. “And then you combine that with how Gavin is feeling and what strength he is at right now, just the normal every day activities. It just became an easy decision.”

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Without Casas at third base, the Gamecocks will have to seek out internal options to find their next starter at the position. During the team’s open practice, Talmadge LeCroy and Tyler Causey were taking ground balls, pointing towards one of them starting on Friday vs. James Madison.

“I think they’ll both be ready to go,” Kingston said. “They both had a good week of practice. They both were challenged with a lot of work in terms of degree of difficulty, a variety of plays. But they’ll be ready to go.”

After Casas went down with the injury against Kentucky last Friday in the SEC Tournament, LeCroy slid over to third base for last Saturday’s game vs. LSU. But he came out in the fourth inning after making a crucial mistake that eventually led to the Tigers scoring six runs.

LeCroy’s replacement would be Lee Ellis, who hadn’t played at the hot corner at all during the season. And he wouldn’t fare much better, making a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt in the ninth inning. This play would help LSU tie the game at 10 and come back to win 12-11 to advance to the SEC Championship.

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But on Thursday, Ellis only took ground balls at shortstop. Then there’s Causey, who hasn’t played in a game since April 20. He started out the year as a regular in the lineup but saw little to no action down the stretch.

Causey hasn’t played third at all this year, but Kingston mentioned earlier in the week that he has the ability to play first, second and third.

“They’re not going to be perfect, nobody’s gonna be perfect,” Kingston said. “But they’re prepared and they’re ready to go in and play.”

South Carolina opens up play in the Raleigh Regional on Friday against James Madison. First pitch is at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. Eli Jones (3-4, 5.32 ERA) will make the start on the mound.

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