The best way to rip off a Band-Aid without inflicting immense pain is pulling it off in one quick, fluid motion.
When South Carolina removes its bandage Friday afternoon at Carolina Stadium, it will hope to find that the cut Maryland left back in June has disappeared back into fleshy skin, now undetected by the naked eye.
With a College of Charleston team that finished last season at No. 17 in the country on the docket, the Gamecocks can ill-afford to gingerly peel its adhesive off. A shove back into the meat grinder of college baseball against the country's top competition does not grant such luxuries.
Last year, the Gamecocks dominated the early stretch of their schedule last season, outscoring Bucknell, Presbyterian and Eastern Kentucky 57-6 before finally facing a formidable Clemson squad. This season, South Carolina begins its 2015 campaign against a Cougars team that engineered the second-best postseason run in program history a year ago before fading in the super regionals.
After a 38-17 regular season, College of Charleston earned a bid to the Gainesville regional, where they became the first four-seed to ever sweep an NCAA regional. The Cougars defeated SEC champion Florida and outlasted every other team from the state of South Carolina, but fell to Texas Tech in the super regionals.
"You don't go into Florida and win a regional with Long Beach State, North Carolina and the University of Florida, who won the SEC, if you're not good," head coach Chad Holbrook said. "Those things don't just happen. They're awfully good and awfully talented and I'm sure they're very confident because they went into an SEC venue and won. So, this isn't going to be anything new for them."
College of Charleston used a stellar pitching staff to navigate through a successful season but will be without half its starting pitching staff from a year ago this weekend.
Sophomore Tyler Thornton, who made 14 starts and won seven games for the Cougars last year, transferred to Spartanburg Methodist College in the offseason, and sophomore Bailey Ober is listed as questionable for the weekend, although the school's athletic department announced he would not start. Ober, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's selection for national pitcher of the year in 2014, could be used out of the bullpen, however.
In 17 appearances for College of Charleston, Ober posted a 1.52 ERA while winning 10 of the 13 decisions he factored in to.
Instead, the Cougars will wheel out redshirt junior pitcher Taylor Clarke and junior pitchers Nathan Helvey and Eric Bauer on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
"Their pitching staff, when they're healthy, is as good as anybody," Holbrook said. "We have our hands full with the Clarke kid [Friday]. He could beat anybody on any given day."
South Carolina will counter with junior Jack Wynkoop on Friday and sophomore Wil Crowe on Saturday, with sophomore left-hander Josh Reagan handling Sunday duties.
Sophomore Taylor Widener looks to have secured the closer job at the moment, but Holbrook noted he will revisit the issue once the season has begun.
The Gamecocks faced College of Charleston only once last season, taking a 4-2 midweek win. Junior third baseman Joey Pankake went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and junior pitcher Cody Mincey gave up a rare run while picking up his first save of the season.