RALEIGH, NC: Eli Jones has been South Carolina’s number one starter for most of this season, and he will get the ball from Mark Kingston to open the NCAA Raleigh Regional against James Madison Friday afternoon.
Kingston also announced first baseman/third baseman Gavin Casas had surgery Thursday morning on his hamate bone and will miss the remainder of the season. He said Talmadge LeCroy and Tyler Causey had a good week of practice at third, and he has decided on a starter, but he won’t announce it until lineups go out on Friday.
Jones is 3-4 this season with a 5.32 ERA. He has struck out 52 and walked 19 in 64.1 innings. Teams are batting .315 against him. In ten SEC starts this season, Jones was 1-4 with a 7.40 ERA. He has struck out 32 and walked 16 in 41.1 innings. SEC teams batted .339 against him.
Jones has lost his last three decisions. He appearned twice in the SEC Tournament starting the win over Arkansas and pitching one-third of an inning in releif in the semi-final loss to LSU.
In last season’s regional win over NC State in Columbia, Jones came in out of the bullpen and allowed no runs on five hits over 2.1 innings. He also pitched two innings of relief in the second Super Regional loss at Florida allowing no runs and one hit over two innings.
James Madison will start 6-1 righthander Todd Mozoki against the Gamecocks Friday. He has started eight games in 18 appearances this season with a 5-1 record and a 6.80 ERA. He has struck out 42 and walked 22 in 47.2 innings. He has yielded a team high nine home runs, and teams are batting .332 against him. He also leads the team in balks with three.
USC comes into the regional with a 36-23 record while JMU is 34-23. They will meet at 2:00 PM Friday with NC State taking Bryant in the day’s second game.
Causey should start at 3B