After the school's first losing season in baseball since the late 1990s a year ago, South Carolina coach Mark Kingston shopped the transfer portal hard. He brought in a bunch of players and they started this season with nine straight wins and gaudy offensive numbers. After a series-opening loss to Clemson, Carolina reeled off eight more wins.
But the SEC opening series at Georgia was to be the Gamecocks' stiffest test yet. After staging a ninth-inning rally to win Game 1, Carolina hammered the Dogs the next two games, invoking the SEC's newly instituted 10-run rule both times.
The Gamecocks (20-1) are on an 11-game winning streak.
USC is batting .310 with a Division I-leading 56 home runs in 21 games. That's two homers below the Gamecocks' season total of 58 dingers in 55 games last season. There has been talk of baseballs being more lively this season. But that much?
And the pitching has been solid, too, compiling a 2.57 ERA while allowing opponents a .203 batting average.
If the Georgia series was a fluke or an indicator of big things to come remains to be seen. Carolina's first home conference series is against Missouri, which is coming off a sweep of Top 5 Tennessee.
Up next for the Gamecocks: Charlotte at Truist Field in Uptown Charlotte, Tuesday.
Also considered
Anderson (3-1)
Charleston Southern (5-0) - winning streak at 6
Coastal Carolina (3-1)
Florence-Darlington Tech (4-1) - 7-0 start in region
Newberry (4-0) - winning streak at 10
North Greenville (4-0) - winning streak at 10
Spartanburg Methodist (4-0)
USC Sumter (4-0) - weekend sweep
USC Upstate (3-1) -
Previous winners
Jan. 23-29: Spartanburg Methodist
Jan. 30-Feb. 5: Limestone
Feb. 6-12: North Greenville
Feb. 13-19: Florence-Darlington Tech
Feb. 20-26: Southern Wesleyan
Feb. 27-March 5: Wofford
March 6-12: USC Aiken
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