Baseball Heads to Alabama for a Three-Game SEC Series

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina baseball team travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face the University of Alabama in the season’s first Thursday-Saturday series. The series starts Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) with Friday’s game at the same time. The series wraps up Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. CT). Thursday and Friday’s games will be televised on SEC Network with Dave Neal and Chris Burke on the call, while Saturday game will be streamed on SEC Network +. All games will be broadcast on The Game 107.5 FM and the Gamecock Sports Network with Derek Scott and Tommy Moody on the call. Carolina defeated No. 3 North Carolina State, 10-8, Tuesday night in Charlotte as Jacob Olson ended a wild contest with a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth, Carolina’s fourth walk-off win of the season.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION

Thursday
South Carolina Danny Lloyd (Fr. RHP) 2-2, 4.72 ERA, 13.1 IP, 9 BB, 17 SO
Alabama Sam Finnerty (Sr. RHP) 4-3, 3.92 ERA, 39.0 IP, 6 BB, 31 SO

Friday
South Carolina Reid Morgan (Jr. RHP) 3-0, 2.17 ERA, 45.2 IP, 5 BB, 38 SO
Alabama Brock Love (R-Jr. RHP) 3-1, 4.10 ERA, 26.1 IP, 10 BB, 33 SO

Saturday
South Carolina TBA
Alabama Tyler Ras (Fr. RHP) 1-2, 3.22 ERA, 22.1 IP, 9 BB, 19 SO

SCOUTING ALABAMA

The Crimson Tide are coming off an 8-4 loss to Troy on Tuesday night. John Trousdale had two hits and drove in a pair in the loss. Alabama is led offensively by Kolby Robinson, who is hitting .365 with 18 RBI. Tyler Gentry has five home runs and 22 RBI while Morgan McCullough has 10 doubles. On the mound, Brock Love leads the staff with 33 strikeouts while Sam Finnerty is 4-3 with a 3.92 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 39 innings pitched.

THE SERIES

Carolina holds a 36-27 series advantage on Alabama heading into Thursday’s contest. The two teams last met in 2017 at Founders Park where Carolina won 2-of-3 games from the Crimson Tide, including a 6-5, 10-inning win on Saturday after a walk-off single from Justin Row. The last meeting in Tuscaloosa was in 2016. The Gamecocks swept the series on its way to an SEC East Division crown.

OLSON’S BLAST WALKS OFF WOLFPACK

Senior Jacob Olson’s two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted Carolina to a 10-8 win over No. 3 North Carolina State Tuesday night (April 2). It was Olson’s second walk-off home run of the season as he also had one on March 9 against Valparaiso. It also was Olson’s third multi-home run game of the year. Carolina had four home runs in the contest, upping its season total to 50. The win was Carolina’s fourth walk-off win of the year (Feb. 17 vs. Liberty, Feb. 23 vs. Utah Valley and March 9 vs. Valparaiso), three of which have come on walk-off home runs.

GAMECOCKS TAKE THEIR ACT ON THE ROAD

The Gamecocks have just four games at Founders Park in the month of April – a midweek game vs. Charlotte (April 9) and a three-game series vs. Texas A&M (April 18-20). Carolina has three neutral-site contest and three SEC road series beginning April 4 at Alabama. Carolina is 4-2 in true road games heading into the Alabama series and won its first neutral site game on April 2 in a 10-8 win over No. 3 N.C. State.

SEC LEADERS

At the plate, Jacob Olson is second in the league with 11 home runs. Senior TJ Hopkins is tied for the lead in triples (3), tied for fifth in home runs (8), sixth in total bases (72) and ninth in slugging percentage (.615). Olson is third in slugging percentage (.670) and tied for second in total bases (77). Luke Berryhill is tied for sixth in doubles (11) and is 10th in slugging percentage (.610). On the mound, Reid Morgan is tied for third with 45.2 innings pitched and Cam Tringali is tied for third with 15 appearances. As a team, SC is 14th in batting average, 13th in ERA and eighth in fielding percentage.

UP NEXT

Carolina hosts Charlotte Tuesday night (April 9) at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on SEC Network +.