Tennessee baseball is back in action this weekend as they head on the road to face South Carolina in a three-game series at Founders Park.
The Vols are coming off of a series victory over Alabama and are looking to pick up their third straight series win to open up conference play. Here’s how to watch, pitching matchups and other details ahead of the three-game series in Columbia.
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How to Watch: No. 1 Tennessee baseball (23-2, 5-1 SEC) at South Carolina (17-9, 1-5 SEC)
Game One:
First pitch time: 7 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Dave Weinstein, CC: Grayson Greiner
Watch: SEC Network+
Game Two:
First pitch time: 4 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Dave Weinstein, CC: Grayson Greiner
Watch: SEC Network+
Game Three:
First pitch time: 5 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Tom Hart, CC: Chris Burke
Watch: SEC Network
Pitching Matchups
Game One:
Vols LHP Liam Doyle: 6 GS, 3-1, 2.03 ERA, 31 IP, 0.84 WHIP, 62 K, 11 BB
vs.
Gamecocks LHP Jake McCoy: 6 GS, 2-2, 6.57 ERA, 24.2 IP, 1.46 WHIP, 45 K, 12 BB
Game Two:
Vols RHP Marcus Phillips: 6 GS, 2-0, 1.47 ERA, 30.2 IP, 0.91 WHIP, 35 K, 9 BB
vs.
Gamecocks LHP Jarvis Evans Jr: 5 GS, 3-0, 3.42 ERA, 26.1 IP, 1.18 WHIP, 27 K, 7 BB
Game Three:
TBD vs. TBD
What To Know About South Carolina
Tennessee baseball faces off with ole friend Paul Mainieri this weekend. The former LSU coach is in his first year leading the South Carolina program after the Gamecocks’ fired Mark Kingston last offseason.
It’s been a pretty rocky start to Mainieri’s first season in Columbia. In pre conference play, Clemson swept a three-game weekend series against South Carolina. The first two weeks of SEC play haven’t been any kinder to the Gamecocks. They dropped two of three at home to Oklahoma before Arkansas swept them in Fayetteville last weekend.
At the plate, Ethan Petry has been fantastic this season and is hitting .359 with six home runs, 15 extra-base hits and 23 RBIs. Nathan Hall is off to a stout start to his season too, hitting .398 with four home runs, 11 extra-base hits and 23 RBIs.
On the mound, Dylan Eskew has been South Carolina’s top bullpen arm. In 20.1 IP this season, Eskew is posting a 1.77 ERA though he has been a bit erratic at times.
Quick Prediction
Life on the road in the SEC is never easy and I don’t expect Tennessee to waltz into Founders Park and coast to a series sweep. But Tennessee is a much better team and South Carolina has been largely unimpressive to this point in the season.
The Vols should win this series and sweeping is very much on the table. But my respect for the difficulty of sweeping SEC series, especially on the road, is keeping me from predicting it.
Tennessee wins two out of three
