COLUMBIA — South Carolina baseball pitcher Will Sanders has thrown career games against Florida in each of the past two seasons, and facing the Gators again in the NCAA Tournament super regional is personal for him.
Sanders recorded a season-high 10 strikes and gave up just three hits in six innings in the the Gamecocks’ 13-3 win over Florida on April 20. He also had 10 strikeouts with four hits allowed in seven innings in 2022 and logged six strikeouts with two hits allowed over four innings in 2021. The junior ace holds a grudge against the Gators dating back to his recruiting process.
“My high school coach caught at Florida, and Florida never offered me, so it’s always been kind of a personal urge to beat them every single time we play them,” Sanders said with a grin. “They beat us in the SEC Tournament last year and ended our season … and that kind of gives us a goal to go down there and beat them on the biggest stage.”
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No. 15 seed South Carolina (42-19) faces the No. 2 seed Gators (48-15) in Gainesville, Florida, in a best-of-three series beginning Friday (6 p.m., ESPN2). The winner of the series advances to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Sanders, a 6-foot-6 right hander, made a triumphant return to the mound during the Columbia Regional after missing the last two series of the regular season and the SEC Tournament because of a lower-body injury. Though he did not start during the regional, Sanders got eight strikeouts in four innings and gave up just one hit in his two relief appearances.
Sanders suffered injuries to both knee and to his lower fibula above the ankle, and he still has to wear a walking boot off of the field. Early in the recovery process, doctors told him that his season was likely over, but Sanders was determined to return to the Gamecocks in any capacity possible.
“I wanted to give it back to the team … and it was disappointing me being sidelined like that, but having four innings under my belt now makes me feel a lot more confident and comfortable going out on the mound,” Sanders said. “Everybody was telling me I wouldn’t be able to do it, and I knew I could. I knew that if I put my mind to it, I could overcome it.”
In Sanders’s absence, redshirt junior James Hicks and junior Jack Mahoney have stepped up in the starting lineup. Hicks, who made just two appearances for South Carolina last season, has a 3.32 ERA and has allowed one run and five hits with 12 strikeouts across his last two starts.
Mahoney was the team’s Saturday starter all season but has hit his stride in recent weeks. He led the Gamecocks to their lone win in the Arkansas series with six strikeouts, no earned runs and five hits allowed, and he held NC State scoreless for five innings in their regional semifinal matchup.
Coach Mark Kingston was evasive on his plans for the pitching rotation against Florida, but Sanders said he still expects Hicks and Mahoney to start the first two games. If the series goes to an if-necessary game Sunday, Kingston isn’t ruling out Sanders as a potential starter.
“Will Sanders coming back as a veteran is important,” Kingston said. “It’s just a matter of what we think is the best way. If we don’t play any extra-inning games, there’s 27 innings to play, so what’s the best way to get our best pitchers throwing the the most amount of impactful innings? That’s who we’ll have out there.”