Why South Carolina will start James Hicks against Georgia
South Carolina will be throwing one of its go-to pieces Tuesday morning in an elimination game.
The Gamecocks will start right-hander James Hicks in the first game of the SEC Tournament against Georiga (10:30 a.m. ET) trying to avoid an early exit in Hoover.
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He’ll get the nod with reliever Cade Austin expected to be one of the first guys out of the bullpen.
“We just thought from a matchup standpoint with their hitters and be pretty right-handed, especially at the top, just was a good way to start the game,” Mark Kingston said. “And have Cade to come in as a weapon after that.”
Hicks has been one of South Carolina’s key relievers this season but has scuffled of late. He has a 4.09 ERA this season over 50.2 innings (22 appearances) with 42 strikeouts to 12 walks.
In 29.2 SEC innings, Hicks has a 6.37 ERA with 22 strikeouts and seven walks. He’s given up seven homers, nine doubles and a triple. Against Georgia earlier in the year he closed two games with a save in one of those.
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It’s a largely right-handed heavy lineup with a ton of power, especially near the top. With Hicks as a sinkerball pitcher, the Gamecocks are hoping to get a ton of groundouts and keep the ball in the ballpark.
The Bulldogs have three players with at least 15 home runs this season. The offense is headlined by redshirt freshman Charlie Condon who has 25 and is hitting .393 this season. Connor Tate has 16 and a .384 average to book while Parks Harber has 18 and a .282 average.
“Well, it’s a really good offense and you need to try to keep them on the ground because they have a lot of power,” Kingston said. “Condon with 25 (home runs) obviously, then Tate and Parks Harber. They have a lot of power. So the key is to try to keep them on the ground and minimize free baserunners. because if not, then if they do get you can get a two or three-run homer.”
Hicks has started three games this season–all in midweeks against non-conference competition (Queens, NC A&T and North Florida). He’s allowed two hits over eight shutout innings with four walks and eight strikeouts.
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Hicks threw 25 pitches Saturday against Tennessee and the Gamecocks are hoping to get about 70 to 80 pitches out of him with Austin available after a week’s worth of rest.
If he sticks to a 15 to 20 pitches per inning clip, that could give South Carolina about four or five innings out of the right-hander.
“I don’t know that he’ll go all the way to 100 (pitches),” Kingston said. “But I think we’ll just play it by ear knowing that he can give us in that 70 to 80 range we’d probably take that.”
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South Carolina’s game will kick off at 10:30 a.m. ET with the winner advancing to the double-elimination portion of the bracket to play No. 3-seeded LSU Wednesday morning.
The Gamecocks swept Georgia earlier in the season, run-ruling the Bulldogs twice.
