THURSDAY SPORTS: Shaw to start Saturday; Furman looks for third win; HS volleyball

*South Carolina senior Connor Shaw will be the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback Saturday night, head coach Steve Spurrier announced after practice on Wednesday afternoon. The No. 13/12 Gamecocks are continuing their preparations for Saturday’s SEC Eastern Division matchup in Columbia with the Kentucky Wildcats. The game is set for 7:38 p.m.

*Coming off a 24-17 road victory over arch-rival The Citadel in Charleston last Saturday and winners of two straight, Furman (2-2, 1-0 SoCon) returns home to Paladin Stadium on Saturday to take on Elon (1-4, 0-1 SoCon) in a 1:30 p.m. game that will highlight Parents’ Weekend at Furman. Coverage begins Saturday at noon-time on 96.3 WGOG and the Furman Sports Network, with the Paladin Tailgate Show, live from Barnes and Noble on the Furman campus.

*In high school volleyball on Wednesday, Seneca got past Walhalla 3-0 by scores of 25-23, 25-15, and 25-12. The Lady Cats improve to 9-1 overall and 7-1 in Western AAA play. Elsewhere, Daniel defeated West-Oak 3-1.

*In the majors, the National League Divison Series with the Braves and Dodgers gets underway Thursday. First pitch is set for 8:37 PM.

*The Tampa Bay Rays shut out the Cleveland Indians 4-0 Wednesday night in the winner-take-all American League wild-card game in Cleveland. Rays starter Alex Cobb pitched into the seventh inning before leaving without giving up a run, including pitching out of big jams in the fourth and fifth innings. Next up for Tampa Bay, which had to beat the Texas Rangers in a tiebreaker two days earlier to make it to Wednesday night’s wild-card game, is the Boston Red Sox, who they’ll face in the best-of-five AL Division Series.

*The military service academy football teams will be playing their games this weekend despite the government shutdown, AP reported Wednesday night, citing a senior defense official. That means Navy will play Air Force as scheduled and Army will take on Boston College. However, the decision affects only this weekend’s games, with future games to be evaluated if the shutdown continues. The football teams will be allowed to play because the games are paid for with non-appropriated funds — which come from outside sources and aren’t approved through Congress — and because they were long planned.