COLUMBIA – Thirty-four games inside Founders Park, the annual three-game series with in-state rival Clemson and the traditional tough slate in the Southeastern Conference highlight the 2018 South Carolina baseball schedule, announced this morning (Wednesday, Nov. 29).
The Gamecocks open the 2018 season on Friday, Feb. 16 against VMI at 4 p.m. That is the start of both a three-game series with the Keydets and a 10-game homestand. Midweek clashes with Charlotte (Feb. 20), Winthrop (Feb. 21) and Furman (Feb. 27) surround a three-game series against Charleston Southern (Feb. 23-25) in Carolina’s February slate.
The Gamecocks open the three-game series with Clemson at Founders Park on Friday, March 2. The two teams then will play in Greenville’s Fluor Field on Saturday and conclude the series in Clemson on Sunday.
After a neutral-site contest against Appalachian State on March 6 in Charlotte’s BB&T Field, South Carolina will open an eight-game homestand, which includes the start of SEC play. Carolina faces North Carolina A&T (March 7), hosts Princeton for a three-game series (March 9-11), faces a second Ivy League school in Harvard (March 14) and opens conference play with a three-game series against defending national champion Florida (March 16-18).
South Carolina has home SEC series against the Gators, Tennessee (March 29-31), national runner-up LSU (April 20-22), Ole Miss (May 4-6) and Missouri (May 11-13). The Gamecocks hit the road for conference series at Georgia (March 23-25), Kentucky (April 6-8), Arkansas (April 12-14), Vanderbilt (April 27-29) and Texas A&M (May 17-19).
A pair of neutral-site tilts highlights the second-half of the non-conference schedule. The Gamecocks face North Carolina on Tuesday, April 3, at BB&T Field in Charlotte. The College of Charleston game on May 9 will be played at Spirit Communications Field in Columbia, home of the Columbia Fireflies. In all, Carolina will have home-and-homes with The Citadel and Furman and hosts Davidson, Presbyterian and USC Upstate in the midweek.
The SEC Tournament has its usual home in Hoover, Alabama, beginning on May 21 with the championship game on Sunday, May 26. The NCAA Regionals begin on Friday, June 1 with Super Regional play commencing on Friday, June 8. Both postseason rounds will be played on campus sites. The NCAA College World Series will start on Saturday, June 16 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.
The deadline for season-ticket and parking renewals for the 2018 South Carolina baseball season is Friday, Dec. 8. Check GamecocksOnline.com for ticket-renewal information.
