South Carolina baseball third baseman Gavin Casas out for NCAA tournament

South Carolina baseball will play the rest of its season without starting third baseman Gavin Casas.

Coach Mark Kingston told media on Thursday that Casa underwent surgery and will be out the rest of the season, which continues on Friday in the NCAA Regionals.

Casas injured the hamate bone on his right hand May 24 against Kentucky in the SEC Tournament. Casas did not play against LSU in the semifinals on Saturday, when the Gamecocks lost in 10 innings 12-11. Before the injury, Casas hit a 429-foot home run against the Wildcats, for his 10th and ultimately final home run of the season.

The senior third baseman has been a critical part of South Carolina's infield. Casas transferred to South Carolina after playing two seasons at Vanderbilt. Casas holds a .260 batting average and has hit 29 home runs for the Gamecocks, with 91 RBIs over the past two seasons.

Last year, Casas was named NCAA Columbia Regional Most Valuable Player and named to the NCAA All-Columbia Regional team.

Kingston told media he had decided on his starting third baseman to replace Casas but will wait to reveal it until he turns in the lineup card Friday, when the Gamecocks open play in the NCAA Raleigh Regional. According to reports from practice Thursday, Talmadge LeCroy took grounders at third with Tyler Causey behind him. LeCroy started at third base Saturday vs LSU in the SEC Tournament.

First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday (ESPN+) when the No. 2 seed Gamecocks take on No. 3 seed James Madison.

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Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin