It has been an impressive two weeks for South Carolina junior Wes Clarke as he wins National Player of the Week Honors for second straight week.
Wes Clarke, who plays both the infield and catcher, has been posting ridiculous numbers for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He leads the SEC in home runs (8), batting average (.636), and RBIs (17) which gives him the triple crown two weeks into play. While he’s only played a total of 6 games, it’s still an impressive sight to see that he leads in those categories with others on his heels.
This past Tuesday, Clarke put on an absolute show going 3-for-3 with all of them being home runs, he also drew a pair of walks to show his discipline at the plate. With that much raw power at the plate, the team has been using him as a Designated Hitter which makes it even easier for him to just focus on hitting. With that being said, he still has a notable defensive skillset and is comfortable in the field. In an article by the Athletic, Gamecocks coach Mark Kingston shared only a few words about the power hitter “He’s locked in, there’s no doubt about it. I don’t want to talk about it too much. It almost feels like talking about a no-hitter in the seventh inning. He’s a great kid who loves the big moment and has fun playing baseball.”
As far as the team goes, South Carolina has been winning games and has been trying to get to competitive form. South Carolina’s baseball program has been one of the best for the school as fans of the school have been left waiting for success for their football and basketball teams. They’re baseball program has been able to answer the call for success as they’ve found it, but Kingston doesn’t want fans to get carried away “I think it’s very important for our fans and that’s important to us, but there’s a lot of season left.”
The team is so far 7-0 this season which is a great accomplishment for the team so far, but as Kingston stated, there’s a lot of season left. The Gamecocks still have games against Vanderbilt, Texas, and LSU which all figure to give them some tough battles ahead. Either way, what the Gamecocks are doing right now is truly special and Wes Clarke is right there in the middle of it.
This article is Current as of 3/3/21