After a successful week on the road beating LSU 2-1 in Baton Rouge, the 24-10 (#11) South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team will return home to play the best team in all of College Baseball, the #1 Arkansas Razorbacks who have the most home runs in all of College Baseball and have one of the best hitting squads in the nation. The Gamecocks have played many top twenty-five opponents so far this season, but none come close to this series against the Razorbacks where it’s all on the line for both teams.  

The Gamecocks couldn’t host the Razorbacks at home at a better time, as the South Carolina baseball fanbase has been one of the loudest and passionate in the past month, as the third base “Rowdy Roosters” hecklers have made a huge impact for the Gamecocks at Founders Park. Their heckling and cheering was a key factor in the Gamecocks getting home wins over Missouri and Florida, as both away team dugouts were struggling to communicate and play the right way with the Rowdy Roosters right above their dugout. While hecklers are already loud, it comes after drama between adults and students, as many were trying to quiet the hecklers in hopes for a more quieter Founders Park. This lit even more of a fire in the hecklers and the entire fanbase to get loud and support their Gamecocks, as Athletic Director Ray Tanner released a statement supporting the hecklers and fans cheering. This comes at the heels of South Carolina announcing capacity increasements beginning this week at Founders Park. The baseball stadium will now fit nearly 50% of its capacity, a number nearly half of the SEC has reached. While the 1,000 fans in Founders were loud, an additional 2,000 will make the environment even louder and even more troublesome for the Hogs of Arkansas.  

It’s another must win for the Gamecocks this weekend as the schedule gets even harder in the next two weeks, with South Carolina playing the two Mississippi SEC teams, Ole Miss and Mississippi State who have both been dominant so far this season. South Carolina needs a critical home series win against the #1 team in the land and they’ll have that opportunity this weekend.  

While the Gamecocks have struggled on the road it’s been a different story for South Carolina at home. The Gamecocks have only lost two games at home compared to 7 on the road, which is one of the biggest home win records in all the Southeastern Conference. The two losses come to Davidson in the midweek and Missouri in game one of the series against the Tigers.  

South Carolina will look to take down the #1 Arkansas Razorbacks this weekend at Founders Park in Columbia, South Carolina. The three game series will begin this Thursday and conclude on Saturday, April 24th, which is also the day of South Carolina’s Garnet and Black Spring Game.