Mark Kingston Previews Massive Series Against LSU

South Carolina Baseball coach Mark Kingston spoke to the media at a press conference on Wednesday about the Gamecocks' upcoming opponent, the LSU Tigers.

South Carolina's Baseball team is set for what could be their toughest challenge of the entire regular season when they take on the No. 1 ranked LSU Tigers for a three-game series later this weekend. The Tigers have only lost four games all year long, including three conference games, but have been led by dominant pitching and a litany of powerful bats in their hitting lineup.

The biggest star of the Tigers' pitching staff is Paul Skenes, the ace in their pitching rotation, who's posted a 7-0 record and 0.81 ERA to boot, and according to South Carolina head baseball coach Mark Kingston at his press conference on Wednesday, Skenes has everything you want in a starting pitcher.

"If you were gonna design a pitcher in a lab, this is what you'd come up with. Big, strong, physical power arm, has command, 10:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, competitive. Came from the Air Force, so he's probably got a lot of discipline to how he goes about his business. I just think that he checks all the boxes of what a dominant power pitcher could be."

Of course, LSU haven't maintained their top perch in the sport this season just because of one pitcher, as several batters the likes of Dylan Crews, Gavin Dugas, Tommy White and others have turned in so many outings that resemble video game numbers that it's hard to find any weaknesses with the Tigers' hitting lineup.

"They have a lot of hitters in their lineup that are proven, that are tough outs, they drive the ball, [and] they get on base. It's a complete offense, and so you're gonna have to make pitches against them," Kingston lamented. "You better have a good game plan against this group and you better be able to execute it."

While South Carolina has played nearly flawless baseball up to this point in conference play, admittedly, the Gamecocks have yet to face an SEC squad the likes of LSU, and so this impending will serve as a rare litmus test for the Gamecocks compared to what they've faced to this point in the season.

"It's gonna be a great baseball series,' Kingston bluntly stated. "They're good, [and] we're good, so let's go play ball."

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