The South Carolina baseball team was on a roll at the start of the season with an eight-game winning streak and a series win over Clemson. The Gamecocks (10-3) were knocked out the last time they were on the field, however, losing to Gardner-Webb 10-2 at Founders Park. This weekend, second-year head coach Mark Kingston will look to get his team back on track as they host Valparaiso, a team that has really struggled to start the season. The Crusaders (2-7) have played every game away from home so far this season and don’t get to experience a home game until March 22 against Butler. Valparaiso did manage to salvage a game last weekend in the Sunday series finale against UNC Wilmington in a 10-8 decision. But on Tuesday, the Crusaders dropped an 11-4 tilt against North Carolina A&T. The starting rotation will be shaken up this weekend for the Gamecocks, which have to replace Friday starter Carmen Mlodzinski, who is lost for the better part of a month with a broken bone in his foot. Freshman Wesley Sweatt enters the rotation, junior Reid Morgan moves up a day and freshman Dylan Harley moves out. The Gamecocks do, however, have a very strong bullpen with redshirt freshman Cam Tringali one of the top arms. He is seventh in the Southeastern Conference in earned run average at 0.66 this year while also leading the league in appearances with seven. South Carolina announced this week that each game against the Crusaders will be broadcast on SEC Network +. Originally, the games were not set to be broadcast in any capacity.<doc-sep>The South Carolina baseball team will resume Game 1 versus Valparaiso on Saturday at 2 o’clock. Sophomore lefty John Gilreath will pitch in relief of the Friday night starter, Wesley Sweatt, who gave up three hits and a run over four innings. Sweatt also had three strikeouts and two walks. Game 2 will begin 40 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1. To follow along for updates, news, notes and analysis, be sure to stay locked in on our official game thread, which is linked immediately below. Also, join in the conversation and see what everyone is talking about on Plano's Proving Grounds and The Sarge, our baseball message board. GAME THREAD: South Carolina vs. Valapraiso The Crusaders (2-7) were able to strike first on the scoreboard plating a run in the second inning off Sweatt, who was making his first career start. He had four relief appearances this season prior Friday night. The Gamecocks scored a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings. The game was tied up when Crusaders starting pitcher Michael Korancker threw a sacrifice bunt attempt past the first baseman allowing Quinntin Perez, who walked earlier in the third, to score from second base. A sacrifice fly by sophomore Luke Berryhill gave South Carolina the lead. Following a six-pitch inning by Sweatt, the lead grew to three, when Noah Campbell’s drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Andrew Eyster laced an RBI single to left, to push the lead to three. Below is from our South Carolina vs. Valparaiso series preview, which you can read here in its entirety. -- A trio of first-year players are leading the Gamecocks in walks so far this season. Freshman Brady Allen has the most with 13, an average of one per game to this point. Sophomore Luke Berryhill is second on the team with nine walks while Quinntin Perez follows him up with seven. No other player has more than five, which is a group of three. Allen is tied for the team lead in strikeouts with 18 so far, which knots him up with senior TJ Hopkins. Junior Nick Neville is second on the team with 16 strikeouts while sophomore Andrew Eyster has 13 and Noah Campbell has 12. The Gamecocks lead the SEC in strikeouts by its hitters by a wide margin; 133 to 120 for Florida. -- The Gamecocks are 12th in the SEC in fielding percentage and have committed 16 errors this season. Berryhill, a catcher, leads the team with five errors while Campbell has three from his second base position. -- South Carolina does, however, lead the SEC in home runs by a large margin. The Gamecocks have 25 as a team with no other club having more than 16. Eight different players have home runs and seven players have multi-home run seasons already. Hopkins leads the Gamecocks with five while Berryhill and senior Jacob Olson are tied with four apiece. -- Cam Tringali is seventh in the SEC in ERA (0.66) and leads the conference with seven appearances. Reid Morgan is third in the conference in innings pitched at 20.2. At the plate, TJ Hopkins is tied second in home runs (5), tied for second in triples (2), seventh in slugging percentage (.722) and third in total bases (39). Luke Berryhill is third in slugging percentage (.783), tied for fifth in total bases (36) and sixth in RBI (18) and tied for fifth with 16 runs scored. Jacob Olson is tied for fifth with six doubles, while Brady Allen is tied for fourth with 13 walks. As a team, SC is 12th in batting average, 10th in ERA and 12th in fielding percentage.<doc-sep>
After rain postponed play on Friday night, the South Carolina baseball team resumed Game 1 versus Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon and cruised to 9-2 win. The Gamecocks carried a 4-1 lead into the second-part of the game, before adding to the lead in the fifth inning, which was the first frame of play on Saturday. Chris Cullen, who scored one of the four runs on Friday night, launched a solo homer just over the wall in left. It was his fourth home run of the season, which is tied for second-most on the team with two other players. South Carolina tacked on two more runs in the seventh and eighth. Jacob Olson, who went 2 for 5 with a double and RBI, scored two of the four. He started the seventh with a leadoff single and come around to score on a single by Cullen. Like Noah Campbell, Cullen drove in a pair of runs against Valparaiso. John Gilreath (2-1) pitched 2-2/3 innings on Saturday before giving way to Cam Tringali, who finished the game and picked up his first save of the season. The Crusaders (2-8) were able to strike first on Friday, plating a run in the second inning off freshman Wesley Sweatt, who was making his first-career start. The Gamecocks (11-3) then scored a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings. They were tied when Valparaiso's starting pitcher, Michael Korancker, threw a sacrifice bunt attempt past the first baseman, which allowed Quinntin Perez, who walked earlier in the inning, to score from second base. A sacrifice fly by Luke Berryhill gave South Carolina the lead. Following a six-pitch inning by Sweatt, the lead grew to three, when Campbell drove in his first run with a sacrifice fly. Andrew Eyster laced an RBI single to left, to push the lead to three. Like Olson and Cullen, Brady Allen had a pair of hits and a pair of runs. The freshman went 2 for 5 with an RBI Game 2 is scheduled to start at 4:15.