Both baseball features on time this week. That might be some kind of a personal record.
The Gamecocks head to Baton Rouge to take on the Bayou Bengals at 8 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
THREE FOR THE GAMECOCKS
- Justin Smoak. Perhaps affronted by doubters like RonMo, Smoak is looking to go beyond breaking the all-time HR record and obliviate it instead. With 16 long balls this year, Smoak has replaced the record of 48 with a record of 55 and counting. No reason to believe he won't add a couple this weekend. And he's at his best in conference games, hitting .420 against the league.
- Blake Cooper. Reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week. Holding a 3.05 ERA despite leading the SEC in innings pitched. For those of you who don't understand this "baseball" thing, that's good.
- LSU. The Tigers are 6-11-1 in the SEC, with the tie coming because they fled Georgia like scared little girls. Actually, they had to leave because of time constraints, but suffice it to say that the Tigers aren't tearing up the conference, and South Carolina has done quite well against LSU lately, thank you very much.
TWO FOR THE TIGERS
- Ryan Verdugo Jr. LSU's Sunday starter isn't shabby himself, holding a 6-2 record, 3.12 ERA and 44 strikeouts over 52 innings.
- Matt Clark. The Tigers 1B has 15 home runs and is batting .309 while doing a pretty good job at defense. Seven of his long balls have come in SEC play.