South Carolina baseball began its full-team practices for the spring on Friday, three weeks ahead of the Gamecocks’ season opener against Liberty on Feb. 15.
Head coach Mark Kingston, in his second year leading USC, faces a significant challenge in replacing 70 percent of last season’s at-bats and 62 percent of innings pitched.
The Gamecocks will enter the season unranked by Baseball America, D1Baseball or Collegiate Baseball, but still dealing with high expectations both within and outside the program. Here are some items likely to be at the top of Kingston’s to-do list for the preseason.
Figure out where to put Jacob Olson: Olson, one of the few everyday contributors from last season to return, has spent the vast majority of his two years with the Gamecocks in right field.