North Carolina A&T (13-29) vs. South Carolina (22-20)
Date: Wednesday, May 4, 2022 
Time(s): 7 p.m.
Facility: Founders Park (Columbia, S.C.) 

A&T Batting Leaders
Batting Average: Anthony Hennings (.348)
Home Runs: Cort Maynard (8)
Doubles: Hennings (11)
Triples: Canyon Brown (3)
RBI: Brown (28)
Slugging Percentage: Maynard (.486)
On-Base Percentage: Hennings (.388) 

A&T Pitching Leaders 
ERA: Jake Delisi (4.40) 
Strikeouts: Peyton Winebarger (59) 
Innings Pitched: Winebarger (55.2) 
Saves: Evan Demurias (2) 

 A&T Big South Leaders (Top-25) 
Batting Average: Hennings (.348) – 5th; Bussey (.333) – 9th 
Home Runs: Maynard (8) –10th 
Doubles: Hennings (11) – 13th; Maynard (10) – 15th; Brown (10) – 17th; Alec Seaton (10) – 18th 
Triples: Brown (3) – 2nd 
RBI: Brown (28) – 18th; Maynard (27) –24th 
Slugging Percentage: Brown (.486) – 20th; Maynard (.475) – 21st 

A&T National Leaders (Top-100) 
Base on Balls: Brantley (33) – 60th 
Hit by Pitch: Maynard (17) – 15th 
Triples: Brown (3) – 98th 

PROBABLE ROTATION:  

RHP Evan Demurias (1-2, 4.95 ERA, 40.0 IP, 21 K) 

RECENT HISTORY: The University of South Carolina and A&T have played twice since 2018, with each team securing a victory. In their most recent contest, the Aggies upset the Gamecocks, 2-0, in Columbia on March 26, 2019. 

WHO'S HOT: His name is Canyon Brown. He is the freshman catcher on the A&T roster and is also the Big South Conference freshman of the week for the second-straight week. In four games over a five-day stretch, Brown launched three home runs, including his first career multi-home run game on Saturday against Pittsburgh. He also tallied nine RBI and a .824 slugging percentage. Brown is hitting a team-best .424 over the last 10 games. 

AGGIES OVERVIEW: A&T ended its nine-game losing streak last weekend in a big way when they defeated Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) foe Pittsburgh, 9-4, in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. They even came close to winning the series but eventually fell in Game 2 in 10 innings, 13-9. 

Junior infielder Bret Mersman, inserted into the lineup a few weeks ago, has delivered solid production for the Aggies. Mersman hit two home runs in Game 1 against Pittsburgh on Saturday en route to the win and is batting .308 in 17 games this season. 

The Aggies have three players batting over .300 in Hennings, Mersman and Bussey, but Hennings is the only one that qualifies with minimum requirements of 2 PA/G and 75 percent of games played. 

As far as pitching, A&T has three players with a sub-5.00 ERA. The Aggies are eighth in the Big South with a collective 6.60 mark. They are allowing 7.8 runs per game against Power Five schools but just 5.5 in midweek Power Five meetings. 

Head coach Ben Hall is in his eighth year at A&T and has an overall record of 154-221 (.417). Hall has enjoyed recent success against Power Fives schools, beating both North Carolina and Pittsburgh this season alone. He also led the Aggies to a 2-0 sweep of Boston College in 2020 and guided the 2-0 shutout win over South Carolina in 2019. 

GAMECOCKS OVERVIEW:  South Carolina is coming off an impressive three-game sweep of the Alabama Crimson Tide last weekend. With the series victory, the Gamecocks improve to 18-9 at home this year. 

Southeastern Conference (SEC) head coaches projected the Gamecocks to finish fifth in the Eastern Division. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Will Sanders earned preseason second-team All-SEC accolades. In 68.1 innings pitched, he has a 3.82 ERA with 71 strikeouts. 

Joining Sanders with a sub-5.00 ERA are five other Gamecock arms, including redshirt freshman righty Cade Austin's 2.92-mark. 

As for the bats, fifth-year utility player Brandt Belk leads with a .342 average. Fellow fifth-year Andrew Eyster is close behind at a .333 average, but Eyster boasts team-highs in home runs (8) and RBI (42). There are three hitters in the South Carolina lineup with a plus-.300 average, joined by junior infielder Braylen Wimmer at .308. 

Head coach Mark Kingston is in his fifth year at South Carolina. He has an overall record of 133-101 in his time there. He has also had head coaching stops at South Florida (2015-2017) and Illinois State (2010-2014) in his career, and the two-time Mountain Valley Conference coach of the year has an overall mark of 406-28-1(.591).