Baseball Series Prep: South Carolina

by Barca Blog (Photo by John Russell)

No. 19 Vanderbilt (25-6, 5-4 SEC) will entertain No. 8 South Carolina (23-6, 7-2) for a three-game set starting tonight at 6 p.m. CT at Hawkins Field. The series will continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

If you're in town and need tickets, you're in luck. Reserve your seats through the Vanderbilt ticket office at (615) 322-GOLD or online at vucommodores.com.

All three games will also be broadcast live on VUcommodores.com with Joe Fisher's radio call on 560 AM. For Twitter updates, follow @VandyBaseball.

Let's get ready for the showdown by looking at stories from around the web:

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Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com lists the matchup as one of 10 intriguing series to watch this weekend.

Easily the most underrated series of the weekend, the three-game set between the Gamecocks and Commodores should be fantastic. South Carolina and Vanderbilt each have done a nice job on the mound this season with both clubs possessing staff ERA's below four. The series, though, comes down to which team has more production at the plate. In that case, the edge at home definitely goes to Vanderbilt, which enters the series with a fantastic .340 batting average. This series will come down to the series finale, but Vandy will earn an important home series win.

Neil White of The State looks at South Carolina's tough upcoming stretch in SEC play beginning with the Vandy series.

Check out the official previews with game notes on VUcommodores.com and GamecocksOnline.com.

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The probable weekend rotation is:

Friday at 6 p.m. CT
RHP Sonny Gray (4-3, 2.33) vs. RHP Blake Cooper (5-0, 3.11)

Saturday at 2 p.m. CT
RHP Jack Armstrong (4-0, 3.93) vs. RHP Sam Dyson (2-1, 4.79)

Sunday at 1 p.m. CT
RHP Taylor Hill (3-2, 3.95)  vs. TBA

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Quotable No. 1: "Once you get injured like this, there's no point in pouting. You just have to look at the positives. There's no point in asking yourself, 'Why me? Why now? Why'd it happen to me.' You just look at the positives and live it every day. I'm just going to go out there and get my leg stronger every day, and live my life." -- VU Pitcher Corey Williams on his knee injury

Quotable No. 2: "Vanderbilt's a great team. We're looking to go up there and take two-of-three from them. We're facing some good arms, but we have some good arms." -- SC Outfielder Whit Merrifield on weekend expectations

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Around the SEC - SECSports.com
Alabama (20-9, 4-5) at Kentucky (19-11, 2-7)
Arkansas (23-6, 6-3) at Mississippi State (16-13, 3-6)
LSU (25-4, 7-2) at Auburn (20-10, 5-4)
Florida (21-7, 6-3) at Tennessee (15-15, 2-7)
Ole Miss (21-9, 5-4) at Georgia (10-19, 2-7)

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Video of the Day: Motley Cruz responds to Jumpin' Jeff Farmer's threats from last week's series prep: