By Chris Marler
The final midweek non-conference slate is upon us for the SEC baseball season. There are five games on Tuesday night, so let’s get to the storylines.
Schedule (All Times Central)
- Belmont at No. 17 Tennessee – 4 PM
- Northern Kentucky at Kentucky – 5:30 PM
- Winthrop at South Carolina – 5:30 PM
- Jacksonville State at No. 6 Auburn – 6:00 PM
- UT Martin at Ole Miss – 6:30 PM
Best Non-SEC Player to Watch
Welcome back Logen Devenport. Through 49 games this season, Devenport is hitting .427 with 14 home runs and 53 RBIs. NKU doesn’t exactly play a murderer’s row of competition in the Horizon league. However, in their six games against Power Four competition, Devenport has hit .542 going 13-of-24 with a hit in every game and two home runs.
That includes a 3-4 showing against Tennessee last month. The Norse play at Kentucky tonight.
Who’s on upset alert?
South Carolina. Admittedly I want to say no one, but the answer is South Carolina. The Gamecocks are in their 2007 Britney (Spears) era, as they show the world a new rock bottom every other week.
The Gamecocks have given up 85 runs in their last 6 games including 46 this weekend against Auburn. The pitching has been dreadful. However, the offense hasn’t been much better lately. South Carolina has scored more than 5 runs just twice in their last 15 games and have failed to do so in their last 3 straight midweek games averaging four runs per contest in the midweeks.
They welcome Winthrop to town. Winthrop isn’t necessarily a great ball club with just a 27-25 record. However, South Carolina feels like they’re in the middle of a slump with the worst baseball they’ve ever played.
