No. 12 South Carolina vs Charleston Southern Preview

After an ugly loss in the rubber game against Clemson on Monday night dropped the Gamecocks to 7-3, they will continue their busy week by hosting Charleston Southern Tuesday night. Tonight's contest against the Buccaneers is one of seven games in the next nine days for the Gamecocks.

Charleston Southern enters tonight 5-3. After winning their first four games of the season the Buccaneers lost three straight. However they snapped the losing streak with an extra-inning victory over North Florida last Saturday, so they will enter their game in Columbia coming off of a win. The Gamecocks lead the overall series against the Buccaneers 69-12, but last season Charleston Southern beat Carolina 4-1 in Columbia.

The Gamecocks struggled in pretty much every aspect of the game against Clemson and it dragged their numbers down a good bit. The offense, which was never earth-shattering but looked like it was making progress after the poor showing in the season opener, basically disappeared over the weekend. The Gamecocks hit only .198 against the Tigers and managed to score just 8 runs during the series. Over the next week and a half, South Carolina will need to improve both their ability to get on base and their ability to take advantage of the opportunities they do create if they want to get off to a strong start in conference play.

Charleston Southern will send senior right-hander Denis Buckley to the mound against the Gamecocks. Buckley got the win over the Gamecocks last season and this year he has an ERA of 4.35 with seven strikeouts and three walks. The Gamecocks will start Tyler Haswell, a right-handed freshman. Haswell has pitched just one inning so far this season and has an ERA of 0.00 with no strikeouts and two walks.

Start time: 7 pm

Location: Carolina Stadium

How to Watch: SEC Network Plus

How to Listen: 107.5 The Game and Gamecock Radio Network affiliates