FOR STARTERS<\/p>\n
Carolina hosts Queens to continue its six-game homestand on Wednesday night (Feb. 25).
\nFirst pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
\nWednesday\u2019s game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus with Dave Weinstein and Grayson Greiner on the call.
\nWednesday\u2019s game also will be broadcast on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Cade Crenshaw and Stuart Lake on the call.<\/p>\n
PARKING INFORMATION<\/p>\n
BUSINESS LOTS DURING AFTERNOON GAMES\u00a0Business lot parking passes will be honored in Lot 1 ONLY for the Feb. 13, 18 and 20 afternoon baseball games based on availability. The businesses at 405 (Lot 9) and 401 (Lot 10) Huger Street request that you begin parking at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. Other business lots open at 5 p.m. on weekdays. Parking is allowed in Lot 8 (the Cregger lot) on the Williams St. side for the afternoon early games.<\/p>\n
GAME DAY PARKING INFORMATION (including public game day lots (PGDL: $10 per game).\u00a0All gameday lots are cashless.\u00a0Please have a debit card or credit card ready for payment upon entry into parking lots.<\/p>\n
Weekdays
Game Time: 6:30 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 5:30 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 5\/5:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Saturday
Game Time: 2 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 1 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 12\/12:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 12 p.m.<\/p>\n
Sunday
Game Time: 1:30 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 12:30 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 12:30 p.m.\/1 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 11:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Wednesday
South Carolina\u00a0Connor Chicoli (So. RHP) 1-0, 1.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 0 BB, 7 SO
Queens Adrian Quezada (Sr. RHP) 0-1, 10.80 ERA, 5.0 IP, 3 BB, 5 SO<\/p>\n
SCOUTING QUEENS<\/p>\n
The Royals are off to a 3-4 start, winning the middle game of the series against Navy and taking a pair of games against Southern Illinois this past week.
\nBradley Brown is off to a good start for Queens, hitting .381 with four doubles and a home run. He also has scored six runs on the year.
\nOn the mound, Matthew Eagan is 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two starts.
\nThe Gamecocks will see Adrian Quezada on Wednesday. He has one start and five strikeouts in five innings pitched.
\nJake Hendrick is in his third season as head coach at Queens. Hendrick was at Austin Peay for a season and was the head coach at Northeastern State from 2016-22.<\/p>\n
SERIES VS. QUEENS<\/p>\n
Carolina has a 3-0 all-time series record against Queens, winning each of the last three seasons.
\nThe Gamecocks defeated the Royals, 7-2, last year on Feb. 19 that saw a first pitch temperature of 36 degrees.
\nNathan Hall was 4-for-5 and Ethan Petry added three hits in the victory.<\/p>\n
CRADDOCK NAMED SEC FROSH OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n
Freshman infielder Will Craddock was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week on Monday, Feb. 23 after his debut in a Carolina uniform.
\nCraddock went 8-for-15 with nine runs scored, two doubles, a triple, two home runs, two walks and six RBI to help lead the Gamecocks to four wins last week.
\nHe was a perfect 3-for-3 and reached base safely in all five of his plate appearance in the Gardner-Webb win on Wednesday.
\nIn the win over Navy on Saturday, he opened the first with a leadoff home run and added a two-run double. Craddock had four RBI in the game.
\nThen on Sunday in the win over Air Force, Craddock once again led off the Carolina first with a home run. He also added a double in the 4-2 win.
\nCraddock becomes the first Gamecock to win Freshman of the Week honors since Tyler Pitzer in 2024.<\/p>\n
LECROY RETURNS FOR FIFTH SEASON<\/p>\n
Catcher Talmadge LeCroy returns for his fifth year at Carolina in 2026 after missing the second half of last season due to injury.
\nLeCroy has played in 181 games in his Carolina career with 164 starts. If he plays in 24 games this season, LeCroy will become one of 17 Gamecocks to play in 200 games or more and the first to do it since Adam Matthews (2009-12).
\nLeCroy also is 15 walks away from cracking Carolina\u2019s top-10 list in base on balls.
\nThe Belton, S.C., native has 150 hits, 29 doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 94 RBI in the Garnet and Black, helping Carolina to a Super Regional berth in 2023.
\nLeCroy is hitting .467 with two home runs and seven RBI this season.
\nThis past week, LeCroy had multi-hit games in all five Carolina contests, including going 3-for-4 in the win over Gardner-Webb.<\/p>\n
KJ MOVING TO SHORT FOR 2026<\/p>\n
Sophomore KJ Scobey manned the hot corner last year, starting at third in 56 of Carolina\u2019s 57 games in 2025.
\nScobey will now move to shortstop this season, a position he played at Team USA training camp this summer and all through fall ball.
\nScobey had 34 runs scored, seven doubles, eight home runs and 27 RBI in his freshman season.
\nScobey had a walk-off double in Carolina\u2019s 3-2 win over North Florida on April 22 and had a home run to lead off the ninth in the Gamecocks\u2019 6-5 win over No. 1 LSU on May 15.
\nScobey spent the summer of 2025 in the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp in Cary, N.C. He had two hits in the Stars and Stripes exhibition on June 30.
\nIn the second game of the 2026 season, Scobey hit a walk-off solo home run to start the bottom of the ninth, lifting Carolina to a 6-5 win.
\nScobey is hitting .333 with two home runs and seven RBI this year.<\/p>\n
PHILLIPS \u201cAMP\u201dED AFTER SHUTOUT WIN<\/p>\n
Junior righthanded pitcher Amp Phillips started Carolina\u2019s first shutout of 2026, going six innings and allowing just one hit with three strikeouts in the 8-0 win over Navy.
\nPhillips faced the minimum in four of his six innings and used just 79 pitches in his frames.
\nPhillips has a 1.86 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 9.2 innings this season.
\nIt was Phillips\u2019 first win in a Gamecock uniform after transferring from USC Upstate this past season.<\/p>\n
EVANS STARTS A DOUBLES PARADE<\/p>\n
Junior infielder Patrick Evans had five doubles in four games this week (Feb. 17-22) for the Gamecocks.
\nHe had a pair in the Gardner-Webb game, one against Army on Friday and two more in the Air Force win on Sunday.
\nEvans is hitting. 350 with six runs scored and four RBI this season and his .750 slugging percentage is second on the team behind Talmadge LeCroy\u2019s .767.<\/p>\n
BE MY VALENTIN<\/p>\n
Junior lefthanded pitcher Alex Valentin has made three solid appearances for the Gamecocks to start the 2026 season.
\nValentin has two saves and nine strikeouts in 7.1 innings pitched, allowing just three hits and two walks and a .120 opponent\u2019s batting average.
\nIn the 4-2 win over Air Force, Valentin picked up the save, pitching the final three innings and allowing just one hit with three strikeouts.
\nHe also earned the save in the season opener vs. Northern Kentucky, getting the final out of the game.<\/p>\n
UP NEXT<\/p>\n
Carolina faces in-state rival Clemson in a three-game series starting Friday night (Feb. 27).
\nFriday\u2019s game will take place at Founders Park with first pitch at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.
\nSaturday\u2019s game is at Segra Park, home of the Columbia Fireflies, and will start at 3 p.m. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
\nThe series will conclude at Clemson on Sunday afternoon (March 1) at 3 p.m. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOR STARTERS Carolina hosts Queens to continue its six-game homestand on Wednesday night (Feb. 25). First pitch is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[993,27414,27416,27418,27415,27413,27417,9,24,63,122,124,123,1065,27412,5601],"class_list":["post-144041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-baseball","tag-carolina","tag-columbia","tag-featured-articles-home-page","tag-fighting-gamecocks","tag-gamecocks","tag-headlines-home-page","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-south-carolina","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-usc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}