South Carolina hosts the Cal State Bakersfield this weekend. There’s more to the Roadrunners than you might expect.
Last Meeting: This is the first meeting between the programs.
Pitching Probables:
| South Carolina | Bakersfield | ||||
| M. Roth | 3-0 | 1.40 | T. Hoenshell | 2-1 | 2.42 |
| T. Webb | 2-0 | 1.10 | J. Montoya | 2-0 | 2.95 |
| A. Westmoreland | 0-0 | 2.93 | M. McCarthy | 1-1 | 1.71 |
This season: South Carolina is coming off a series win over Clemson. The Gamecocks are 9-1 and a consensus Top 10 team. Bakersfield is having a great season. They finished 26-30 last season. So far this season they are 11-2 after last weekend’s game. They have also won 10 games in a row, including a win over Arizona State.
Pitching: The Roadrunners rely on their pitching, especially their starting pitching. All three of their weekend starters go deep into games and have sub 3 ERAs. If the Gamecocks can get to them early, it could be a fun weekend. If they can’t, it will be a long weekend.
Batting: Bakersfield isn’t a power hitting team: no batter has more than 1 home run and the team only has 5 total. Catcher Jeremy Rodriguez leads the team with a .449 batting average. Right Fielder Ryan McIntyre has a .354 average; Mick Gaston is batting .333; Freshman Second Baseman Oscar Sanay is batting .314 and DC Legg is batting .302.
What South Carolina needs from this weekend: It’s too early to tell how good Bakersfield is. They are probably good enough that South Carolina doesn’t need a sweep, so we’ll just say a series win. The Gamecocks need to shore up the bullpen after last weekend and get back to holding a lead and putting teams away.
