NCAA Regional Championship Preview: South Carolina vs Campbell
Mark Kingston and the South Carolina Gamecocks have looked good through 18 innings of play in the NCAA Regionals. Following up a blowout win against Central Connecticut State on Friday with a gusty performance against NC State yesterday evening, Carolina will now look to move onto the Super Regionals for the first time since the 2018 season, Mark Kingston's first year Columbia.
If the Gamecocks are to move on, they'll have to get past the Campbell Camels, the Big South Conference Regular Season and Tournament Champions who looked dead in the water six innings into their elimination game against Central Connecticut State on Saturday night. Being down 5-0 at that point in the ball game, the Camels exploded for ten unanswered runs to move onto another win-or-go-home contest against NC State on early Sunday afternoon and annihilated the Wolfpack 11-1 to earn themselves a matchup with the Gamecocks.
Regarding pitching, the Camels have been able to save most of their bullpen for this Sunday evening affair but likely won't have Cade Kuehler, Hunter Loyd, Chance Daquila, or Wiley Hartley available tonight. The Camels have eight other pitchers who have pitched 15 innings or more this season that will be available for this contest, and the group has accumulated the following average stat line to this point in the season:
4.62 ERA | 2.05 Strikeout-to-walk ratio | Opposing batting average of .218
Conversely, South Carolina likely won't have Jack Mahoney or Austin Williamson available, but everyone else should be able to go on Sunday night. The best candidate to start is likely Matthew Becker, as he's yet to appear in the Regional round, and Will Sanders is still working his way back from a lower-body injury.
The three batters to watch from Campbell's dugout are Lawson Harrill, Jarrod Belbin, and Bryce Arnold, as each player is batting .324 or better and has an OPS of 1.070 or higher. The trio has also accounted for 48.7 percent and 38.7 percent of Campbell's home run, and RBI counts, respectively. On the base pads, Belbin and Tyler Halstead have stolen 25 and 32 bases, respectively, to this point in the season.
Campbell might not possess the notoriety or the history of South Carolina. Still, the Gamecocks can ill-afford to take the Camels lightly. The game is set to get underway at 6:00 PM EDT later tonight on ESPN+.
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