South Carolina faces a tough test with the LSU Tigers coming to town. As you read in our preview, a lot is riding on the game for both teams.

To help understand LSU baseball, we engaged our Bloguin pals over at Saturday Night Slant. Check out our Q&A with them and make sure to visit their site for all your LSU sports news.... no comments

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that LSU comes to town tonight for a three game set.

What's on the line?  The winner of the game will be all but a lock for a National Seed.  The winner might also be the SEC regular season champion depending on other games.  The loser will have to have some help and a great run in the SEC tourney to get a national seed.

How are we looking?  The Gamecocks have been winning lots of SEC baseball games lately.  In fact, they are 14-2 in their last 16 games, and 8-0 at home during that span.  Colby Holmes is returning from his injury and should be available.  Since most of the mid week game was rained out, the entire bull pen should be ready to go.

LSU pitching.  It's good.  The Tigers have an ERA of 3.26 as a team, and opponents are only batting .244 against them.  (Cf. South Carolina's ERA 3.18, Opp. BA /223)  Their Friday night starter, Kevin Gausman, is 8-1 on the year with a 2.95 ERA.  He has struck out 112 in 91 innings and walked only 21.  Roth will need to have a good night to keep pace with him (which Roth is certainly capable of).

With South Carolina football new trickling out slowly due to the summer season beginning, here is a video that you need to check out. It features USC's D.J. Swearinger putting in work.

Love it, shows determination and shows this team has their minds in the right place. Championships begin in the off-season.

Watch and go in the backyard and try to do some of these workouts -

With one weekend left, here are the SEC East baseball standings:

South Carolina lost control of their own destiny by losing on Saturday and having Sunday rained out.  Here are the scenarios for each of the three teams left in the race to win the East.

For Kentucky to win a share…They simply have to win as many games as South Carolina does and don't get swept.  A sweep guarantees them the outright title, and two games would eliminate Florida.

For South Carolina to win a share…They have to win one more game than Kentucky does this weekend, and they have to win at least one less game than Florida.

For Florida to win a share…They have to win two more games than Kentucky and two more games than South Carolina.  If South Carolina or Kentucky wins their series this weekend Florida cannot catch them.

South Carolina split the weekend series with Georgia one game apiece.  Sunday's game was rained out and will not be made up.

Breaking it Down...Like many Friday nights in the SEC the story was pitching.  South Carolina ace Michael Roth threw 7 full innings of shut out baseball.  He was backed up by Tyler Webb and Matt Price who each threw an inning of shut out baseball themselves.  Goergia ace Alex Wood threw a complete game, but he allowed three runs in doing so.

South Carolina didn't scratch the scoreboard until the 7th inning.  L.B. Dantzler hit a solo home run with two outs to give USC a 1-0.  The Gamecocks plated their second run in the 8th when Evan Marzilli drove in Chase Vergason.  For good measure the Gamecocks scored one more in the 9th.  After Grayson Greiner hit a triple, Sean Sullivan executed a squeeze with two strikes to cap the scoring.  USC won 3-0.

South Carolina has built a resume that is strong enough to deserve one of the eight national seeds.  The problem is, several other teams have as well.  In fact more than eight, and four from the SEC.  Conventional wisdom states it is very unlikely for the SEC to get 4 national seeds, so there are four teams playing for three spots.

South Carolina was swept by Kentucky and lost the series to Florida.  If they lose this weekend to LSU, they might be left out.  On the other hand, if they win against LSU, they will have either 19 or 20 wins and finish ahead of LSU and Florida, and possibly even Kentucky.  It would be tough to deny them a Top 8 seed then.

It's quite simple.  Win this series and get a national seed.  Lose and hope.  That's one more reason this weekend is really, really big.

The South Carolina Gamecocks sports program is soaring of late. It truly is a great time to be a fan and here is our Gamecocks stock report for this past week.....

Rising

USC Football Recruiting - Coach Spurrier is getting it done on the recruiting trail as it seems everyone wants to be a Gamecock. USC had three recruits commit in one day and this was on top of quarterback Connor Mitch also pledging earlier in the week. Not to shabby. SC sits with 12 total recruits for the Class of 2013.

Final weeks of USC baseball - Great time to see the Yardcocks peaking but are we really surprised as they know baseball in May and June is what counts.

USC women's golf - The 25th ranked South Carolina women’s golf team leads the NCAA East Regional as they posted a second-round 294 (+6) on Friday at the Penn State Golf Course. Today is the final round and the Gamecocks are on route to win their second NCAA East Regional title in three years. USC has a seven-shot lead over second place and have a 17-stroke cushion to secure one of those eight spots out of this regional that get you to the final rounds of the NCAA.

Falling

Dogs Days of Summer - here we go college sports fans, the dreaded summer season. Not a lot to strike the fancy will take place and any bit of news affecting the USC program will be a big deal due to not a lot to talk about. So visit the message boards and yearn for USC sports news. May I suggest a revisit to our site?

Flatlining

Damontre Harris and Anthony Gill - stick a fork in these two as they are done with being members of the Gamecocks men's basketball team. Harris seems set on Kansas and Gill is going to Virginia. Best of luck to both, even if I hate to see this.

The Gamecocks travel to Georgia this weekend for the last road trip of the regular season.

Should we worry about Georgia?  Worry isn't quite the right word, but they are capable of putting a damper on a great season.  They are 12-12 in conference, just like last weekend's opponent Arkansas.  They have just swept Auburn and are a dangerous team.  They don't have that many amazing players, but they can beat South Carolina especially in Athens.

When Georgia is batting, pay attention to these guys.  First is senior centerfielder Peter Verdin.  He is good defensively and is batting .299 with a team leading 12 stolen bases.  Junior third baseman Curt Powell is leading the team in average by a long shot at .347.  Brett DeLoach, a catcher, is tied with Kyle Farmer the shortstop at .310.  Farmer leads the team in RBI at 33.  Hunter Cole, a freshman from Moore, SC, leads the team in home runs with 7.

There are four pitchers you should know about.  Friday night's starter will be sophomore Alex Wood.  Wood is 6-1 with a 2.64 ERA.  Saturday's starter will be Michael Palazzone.  He is 2-5 with a 5.45 ERA.  Both Wood and Palazzone have good strike out to walk ratios, perhaps too good.  They walk so few people they are often hit hard.  Wood beat South Carolina in Columbia last year.  Palazzone has played the Gamecocks twice and gotten no decisions each time.

Sunday's starter will be a freshman: Luke Crumley.  He is 2-2 with an ERA of 4.02.  He walks about as many as he strikes out so watch for control issues with him.  The closer is Blake Dieterich.  He doesn't have amazing numbers, but he does have 7 saves in 9 chances.

What are we looking to get out of this weekend?  A series win.  It's not out of the realm of possibility that a sweep could occur, but that is too lofty a goal to worry about until Sunday, if at all.  Georgia is a middle of the road SEC team, and winning a road series will help solidify a national seed.

Three is a charm for the South Carolina Gamecocks when it comes to recruiting today as they have landed Pharoh Cooper to cap off a Thursday recruiting spree. Along with Cooper, the Gamecocks landed David Johnson and Devin Washington.

The Havelock (N.C.) athlete is commitment No. 12 for South Carolina in the 2013 class. He picked the Gamecocks over N.C. State and East Carolina.

Cooper is likely to play defensive back for USC but could also get a look at safety.

Most recruiting services have him as a 3-star recruit.

He is a solid addition for the Gamecocks due to his excellent cover skills as he plays wide out a bit in high school.

Here is his video highlights:

South Carolina has fought back from a 1-5 start to find themselves leading two pennant races in the SEC.  The Gamecocks lead the East by one game and are tied for the lead of the whole conference with LSU.  Here are the standings:

It is still possible for everyone but Tennessee to win the East.  South Carolina is the only team that controls its own destiny.  In pennant races there is the concept of a magic number.  The team leading a race can win a certain amount of games and ensure they win the pennant.  However, the team that is trailing can lose and help the winning team.  The combination of wins or losses is the magic number.  

Here are South Carolina's magic numbers against the rest of the East: