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Nov 07, 2023

Columbia Regional team capsules

The South Carolina baseball team has earned its spot in the NCAA Tournament and

The South Carolina baseball team has earned its spot in the NCAA Tournament and was named as the No. 15 overall seed, playing host to a trio of teams in the Columbia Regional. The Gamecocks (39-19) welcome in No. 2 seed Campbell, a team many national pundits thought deserved to be a host site.

Joining the Gamecocks and the Camels in Columbia is No. 3 seed N.C. State, an ACC team that finished No. 23 in the RPI and No. 4 seed Central Connecticut State, which won the Northeast Conference to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

The Gamecocks stumbled to the finish line this season, but the failure to finish strong didn't keep the team from hosting. South Carolina finished with the No. 8 RPI in the country, third-best strength of schedule and 18 wins over Quad 1 teams. They also had an 8-7 record against the top eight national seeds.

Columbia Regional action will begin on Friday at 1 p.m. when Campbell serves as the home team against N.C. State with broadcast coverage on the ACC Network at Founders Park. South Carolina will take on Central Connecticut State at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Click on the link just below to read a breakdown of each team in the Columbia Regional.

Overall record: 44-13 Conference record: 22-5 (Big South, 1st) Head coach: Justin Haire (9th season) FINAL RPI: No. 13

Schedule and results | Campbell roster | Full season stats

Best wins of the season: Went 3-0 against East Carolina; 2-1 against Louisiana; 1-0 against North Carolina; 2-0 against UNC Wilmington

Worst losses of the season: Lost one game against Longwood; lost one game against Presbyterian

Recent NCAA Tournament: The Camels have advanced to the NCAA Tournament each of the last five seasons under Haire but have not yet made it past the regional round. … In addition to making each tournament since 2018, the Camels also made it in 1990 and 2014. They have not yet advanced past the opening round.

Campbell did come to Columbia in 2014 and were eliminated by South Carolina with a 1-2 record. The Camels have won at least one game in four of their six NCAA Tournament appearances.

POSITION PLAYERS

Team batting average: .318 (11th nationally) Team home runs: 116 (5th nationally) Team on-base percentage: .441 (1st nationally) Team strikeouts vs. walks: 497 vs. 334

Top position players:

CF Tyler Halstead: .377 BA, .990 OPS, 14 2B, 4 HR, 38 RBI, 32-36 SB RF Lawson Harrill: .374 BA, 1.272 OPS, 16 2B, 22 HR, 68 RBI 2B Jarrod Belbin: .325 BA, 1.088 OPS, 16 2B, 19 HR, 62 RBI, 25-25 SB 3B Chandler Riley: .307, .939 OPS, 6 2B, 4 HR, 22 RBI 1B Drake Pierson: .272, 1.003 OPS, 12 2B, 14 HR, 49 RBI

What it looks like defensively: The Camels have a .967 fielding percentage as a team. Shortstop Bryce Arnold has the most errors of the group with 15 while second baseman Jarrod Belbin has 11 at his position.

PITCHING STAFF

Team ERA: 4.53 Team opposing batting average: .224 Team walks: 264 (155th per 9 innings) Team strikeouts: 542

Top pitchers: RHP Cade Kuehler: 8-0, 2.82 ERA, 67.0IP, 47 H, 24 BB, 87K, .191 OBA RHP Chance Daquila: 8-1, 5.25 ERA, 61.2 IP, 59 H, 18 BB, 41 K, .249 OBA RHP Hunter Loyd: 4-4, 4.61 ERA, 66.1 IP, 63 H, 32 BB, 64 K, .244 OBA RHP Aaron Rund: 5-2, 3.83 ERA, 56.1 IP, 51 H, 25 BB, 65K, .241 OBA, 5 saves RHP Ty Cummings: 5-2, 3.22 ERA, 50.1IP, 31 H, 21 BB, 50 K, .176 OBA

Overall record: 35-19 Conference record: 13-16 (Atlantic Coast, 9th) Head coach: Elliott Avent (27th season) FINAL RPI: No. 23

Schedule and results | Full roster | Season statistics

Best wins of the season: 1-0 against Coastal Carolina; 2-0 against UNC Wilmington; Best ACC series win was 3-0 against Florida State

Worst losses of the season: 17-0 in games versus Quad 3 and Quad 4 opponents, but were swept by North Carolina on the road

Recent NCAA Tournament: The Wolfpack return to the NCAA Tournament after missing it last season. The team was a College World Series participant in 2021, which broke a streak of six seasons without making it past the regional round. N.C. State has come to Columbia twice to play a regional and lost both times.

POSITION PLAYERS

Team batting average: .297 (57th nationally) Team home runs: 89 (T39th nationally) Team on-base percentage: .398 (61st nationally) Team strikeouts vs. walks: 376 vs. 275

Top position players C/DH Cannon Peebles: .346 BA, 10 2B, 12 HR, 48 RBI, 26 BB, 29 K 3B LuJames Groover: .332 BA, 8 2B, 11 HR, 48 RBI, 35 BB, 24 K SS Kalae Harrison: .319 BA, 10 2B, 2 HR, 31 RBI, 36 BB, 28 K C/DH Jacob Cozart: .310 BA, 13 2B, 10 HR, 41 RBI, 23 BB, 35 K RF Trevor Candelaria: .282 BA, 16 2B, 9 HR, 37 RBI, 21 BB, 36 K

What it looks like defensively: The Wolfpack have a very solid .975 fielding percentage and no player has more than eight errors on the season. Groover, the third baseman, has eight and so does second baseman Payton Green, who has 10 home runs on the season as well. Kalae Harrison has played shortstop recently and has made only four errors this season.

PITCHING STAFF

Team ERA: 4.37 (26th nationally) Team opposing batting average: .251 Team walks: 191 (30th nationally per 9 innings) Team strikeouts: 524

Top pitchers RHP Matt Willadsen: 5-4, 3.54 ERA, 76.1 IP, 74 H, 26 BB, 79 K, .252 OBA RHP Logan Whitaker: 5-3, 4.54 ERA, 75.1 IP, 72 H, 15 BB, 75 K, .252 OBA LHP Dominic Fritton: 3-4, 3.56 ERA, 62.2 IP, 50 H, 24 BB, 75 K, 3 saves, .211 OBA RHP Justin Lawson: 4-0, 3.51 ERA, 48.2 IP, 56 H, 16 BB, 63 K, 3 saves, .286 OBA RHP Sam Highfill: 6-3, 4.18 ERA, 51.2 IP, 50 H, 20 BB, 46 K, .249 OBA LHP Rio Britton: 3-2, 4.30 ERA, 29.1 IP, 30 H, 16 BB, 41 K, .256 OBA

Overall record: 36-12 Conference record: 25-5 (Northeast, 1st) Head coach: Charlie Hickey (24th season) FINAL RPI: No. 111

Schedule and results | Roster | Full season stats

Best wins of the season: Those are hard to pick out, because CCSU played only five games against opponents in Quads 1 through 3 of the RPI, and won only the Quad 3 game, which came against No. 119 Fairfield on March 22 in a 16-12 contest at home.

Worst losses of the season: CCSU didn't lose a three-game series all year but the worst RPI loss in an individual game came against No. 279 Albany, 16-3, in March. It also lost the final game of the regular season to Stonehill, which had an RPI of 289.

Recent NCAA Tournament: This is the eighth NCAA Tournament appearance for the Blue Devils, which experienced its first win in 2019, defeating Cal 7-4 in the Fayetteville (Ark.) Regional. CCSU has never advanced past the regional round.

POSITION PLAYERS

Team batting average: .302 (34th nationally) Team home runs: 54 (T170th nationally) Team on-base percentage: .395 (69th nationally) Team strikeouts vs. walks: 306 vs. 214

Top position players 1B Ramon Jimenez: .347 BA, 16 2B, 11 HR, 57 RBI, 22 BB, 33 K SS Elliot Good: .310 BA, 9 2B, 2 HR, 38 RBI, 16 BB, 27 K 3B Hunter Pasqualani: .306 BA, 7 2B, 4 HR, 21 RBI, 30 BB, 17 K, 19-20 SB 2B Brady Short: .323 BA, 7 2B, 2 HR, 29 RBI, 27 BB, 17 K LF Jimmy Sullivan: .308 BA, 12 2B, 7 HR, 31 RBI, 18 BB, 44 K DH Dan Hussey: .274 BA, 8 2B, 8 HR, 21 RBI, 10 BB, 27 K

What it looks like defensively: The Blue Devils have a .970 fielding percentage. Shortstop Elliot Good leads the team in errors with 11 on the season. There are a half dozen players who have between four and six errors.

PITCHING STAFF

Team ERA: 5.02 (67th nationally) Team opposing batting average: .253 Team walks: 198 (83rd nationally per 9 innings) Team strikeouts: 342

Top pitchers LHP Dominic Niman: 12-2, 2.76 ERA, 97.2 IP, 82 H, 24 BB, 90 K, .227 OBA LHP Jake Neuman: 6-2, 4.65 ERA, 71.2 IP, 85 H, 27 BB, 56 K, .304 OBA RHP Luke Garfalo: 4-0, 2.09 ERA, 43.0 IP, 27 H, 10 BB, 45 K, 11 saves, .176 OBA RHP TJ Wainwright: 5-1, 5.21 ERA, 38.0 IP, 36 H, 22 BB, 25 K, .252 OBA LHP Anthony Mozzicato: 4-0, 3.94 ERA, 32 IP, 28 H, 16 BB, 22 K, .243 OBA

FULL REGIONAL SCHEDULE

Friday, June 2Game 1 – Campbell vs. N.C. State, 1 p.m. (ACC Network)Game 2 – South Carolina vs. Central Connecticut State, 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

Saturday, June 3Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, Noon (TV TBA)Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m. (TV TBA)

Sunday, June 4Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, Noon (TV TBA)Game 6 – Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 6 p.m. (TV TBA)

Monday, June 5Game 7 – If Necessary, TBD (TV TBA)