'Cats at No. 8 South Carolina on FS South

TV: FS South (SC, NC, KY, central TN, northern MS, Directv Ch. 646-5) | Live Stats | Twitter

Catching the Action

The game will be broadcast live on FOX Sports South at 7 p.m. Twitter updates will be available from @DavidsonWildcat.

LEADING OFF

	Davidson (23-10, 13-3 SoCon)	No. 8 South Carolina (30-10, 10-8 SEC)
Tuesday (7 p.m.)	TBA	RHP Reed Scott (1.17, 1-0)

- Picked to finish last in the Southern Conference by the league's coaches and ninth out of 10 teams, by the media, Davidson is 23-10 overall and in first place in the SoCon at 13-3.

- The Wildcats have improved significantly offensively, batting .306 as a team to lead the SoCon and rank 14th in the nation after batting just .260 last season. Last season's team finished with no batters batting above .300, but this year's has seven batters batting .310 or higher. Davidson has pitched well too, posting an ERA of 3.98 as a team. Its ERA in 2013 was 5.93.

- Dating back to last season, Davidson is enjoying its most successful stretch of Southern Conference play ever, as the Wildcats have claimed a program-record eight consecutive SoCon series (at The Citadel, 5/3-4/13; at Samford, 5/16-17/13; The Citadel, 3/14-16/14; Wofford, 3/21-23/14; Georgia Southern, 3/28-20/14; at Furman, 4/4-6/14; Samford, 4/11-12; UNCG, 4/18), going 17-5 in those 22 SoCon games. With a 13-3 record this season and nine games remaining, the Wildcats have secured their first winning SoCon season since 1993. However, this is Davidson's final season in the SoCon, as it will move to the Atlantic 10 next season.

- Davidson is playing 11 of its final 13 regular season games on the road after playing 26 of its first 33 at home. Tuesday's game begins a season-long eight-game road stretch. Davidson is 3-4 on the road, but 0-4 against non-conference road opponents.

- The Wildcats played just one of four scheduled games last week, as rain forced the cancelation of a game at Duke and two conference games against UNCG.

- DH/RHP Ryan Lowe has reached base in all 33 games this season, and 36-straight dating back to last season, and has at least one hit in 15 out of his last 16 games. He's leading the Wildcats with a .363 batting average, which ranks fourth in the Southern Conference, and a .464 on-base percentage, which ranks fourth in the league.

- The Wildcats also rank third in the SoCon with a 3.98 ERA behind Georgia Southern (3.30) and Elon (3.38).

- RHPs Nick Neitzel (2.58) and Danny Mooney (2.74) lead the Wildcats and rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in ERA in the SoCon.

- Davidson head coach Dick Cooke and South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner coached together on the 2000 U.S. Olympic team and the 2003 U.S. Pan American Games team.

THE SERIES

VS. SOUTH CAROLINA: Davidson trails in the all-time series, 23-44. The two teams met for the first time in 1902 with Davidson winning the first nine meetings. The Gamecocks have taken the last 20 meetings though, with the Wildcats last winning in 1975. Davidson, which has seen limited action against SEC teams, has not defeated an SEC member since earning a 3-2 win over Vanderbilt in 1980.

SCOUTING THE GAMECOCKS

South Carolina enters the game coming off a series win over Auburn, ending a five-game losing streak that included a loss to Southern Conference foe The Citadel. However, the Gamecocks are 3-0 in their other games against SoCon teams, defeating Furman twice and Appalachian State. Connor Bright and Kyle Martin lead the team with .340 batting averages, while Grayson Greiner has a team-best 36 RBIs to go along with a .326 average and four home runs.

NOTES

YEAR-OVER-YEAR-IMPROVEMENT: Every single starter has improved his batting average and on-base percentage this season from last season, while five, including three returning starters have already surpassed both their cumulative home run and RBI totals.

Batting Average: David Daniels and Sam Foy are the most improved hitters, as both have raised their batting average 90 points over last season. Six of nine have raised their average by .57 points or more, for an average improvement of 59 points overall, and 47 amongst the returning starters (^).

Home Runs: Despite losing 19 of the 39 home runs hit in 2013 to graduation, Davidson has already slugged 33 in 33 games to rank ninth in the nation and fourth in the conference. Only Ryan Lowe and Lee Miller have yet to equal or surpass last season's cumulative home run total. Nathan Becker has become one of the nation's top home run hitters, slugging nine in just 26 games.

RBIs: Amongst returning starters (^), Forrest Brandt and Nathan Becker have already combined to drive in 19 more runs than last season, as both have already set career highs. Of the four starters yet to eclipse their 2013 RBI totals, all are within five.

On-Base Percentage: Ryan Lowe leads the improvement in the category, presently, carrying an OBP 104 points higher than last season's. Four have posted improvements of 67 or greater.

'CATS VS. THE BEST: Davidson's last win over a nationally-ranked team was in 2011 against No. 21 College of Charleston. The Wildcats have gone 0-8 since against nationally-ranked teams, but have had three one-run losses: No. 6 North Carolina, 4-5 (3/6/12), No. 3 South Carolina, 1-2 (5/2/12) and No. 6 NC State, 3-4 (4/23/13). Recently, they yielded a two-run decision at No. 6 NC State (2/25), 7-5.

MILESTONE SEASON: Davidson reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2005, doing so in a program-best 28 games. This year's team is the 14th in program history to reach 20 wins. The school single-season wins record is 28, accomplished in 1988 and 1992.

HISTORIC WINNING PERCENTAGE: At 23-10, Davidson boasts a .697 winning percentage. Davidson's best winning percentage in a season in which it played 40 or more games is .558. If the 'Cats maintain it, it would be their best effort since winning .714 of games (15-6) in 1933.

MIDDLE-AGED: The 2014 Wildcats are experienced, but not old. Davidson will return seven of nine positon players and two weekend starters.

WEATHER WOES: Davidson has lost six games to weather this season. Its entire opening series against Buffalo was snowed out, while three out of four games last week were rained out.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: The Wildcats also have gap power, as they rank third in the country with 2.30 doubles per game, led by 3B David Daniels with 12.

CRIME STOPPERS: Davidson is second in the SoCon in caught stealing (18), and nation and conference-leading base stealers Wofford (3/21-23) went 0-for-3 in stolen base attempts against the 'Cats. Catcher Daniel Gerow is second in the SoCon with 10 caught stealings.

BECKER BREAKS OUT: Nathan Becker started all 49 games last season for Davidson and totaled one home run and 14 RBIs. He has nine home runs and 26 RBIs in 26 games this season. Becker is second in the SoCon with a .630 slugging percentage and is tied for third with a team-best nine home runs. He ranks third in the country in home runs per game (0.35).

SAVERS: Five different pitchers have combined for a team-record tying 12 saves this season. Senior RHP Michael Goldberg has settled into the closer's role recently, earning six saves since 3/19 (Wake Forest). RHP Durin O'Linger picked up his first career save against Samford (4/13) by pitching the final three innings.

WALK THIS WAY: Ryan Lowe tied a school record for walks in a game with four against Mount St. Mary's (2/23). Many have achieved the feat, but Lowe was the first to do it since Michael Zeblo '13 in 2012. He is among the conference leaders in the category with 24 bases on balls this season.

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