What Mark Kingston said about Gavin Casas injury from South Carolina-Kentucky game
Gavin Casas started grabbing at his wrist.
In the fifth inning of South Carolina’s 6-5 victory Friday over Kentucky in the SEC Tournament, the South Carolina infielder started wincing mid at-bat — favoring his right hand — and was evaluated by head coach Mark Kingston and trainers. After a few minutes, Casas walked to the dugout and exited the game.
Talmadge LeCroy replaced Casas during the at-bat then in the field at third base.
Soon after, the SEC Network’s Kris Budden reported on the broadcast that Casas broke his hamate bone and will have X-rays later on Friday.
After the game, Kingston did not confirm a broken hamate bone. He was adamant that South Carolina will not write Casas off, noting that the Gamecocks are going to exhaust all of their options to get him back on the field.
“Our official doctors still need to look at it,” Kingston said. “We are not going to say that Gavin’s season is going to be over yet.”
Casas’ absence would take a big bat out of South Carolina’s lineup for the rest of the postseason. During the win over Kentucky, Casas blasted a three-run home run to give the Gamecocks an early lead.
This week in Hoover, Casas has gone 5 for 15 at the plate, scoring a half-dozen runs while adding four RBIs. But the story around Casas has revolved around his defense. In the loss to LSU, he let a ground ball go between his legs as two runs scored. Against Kentucky, he couldn’t field a ball at third and a Wildcat run soon came home.
South Carolina faces LSU in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday.
