COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of South Carolina baseball team will play its next eight games in Columbia, beginning with a three-game conference series with No. 4 Ole Miss at Founders Park. The series starts on Friday, May 4 at 7 p.m., while game two is on Saturday, May 5 at 4 p.m. The series finale is set for Sunday (May 6) at 12 p.m.

Friday and Saturday’s games will be streamed on SEC Network Plus with Sunday’s game televised on SEC Network with Dave Neal and Todd Walker on the call. Every game will be on the IMG Gamecock Radio Network with Derek Scott and Tommy Moody on the call.

South Carolina had the midweek off for final exams. Before that, the Gamecocks took 2-of-3 games at No. 17 Vanderbilt, including winning a wild 10-9 game in the series finale.

SCOUTING OLE MISS

> The Rebels defeated Arkansas Pine Bluff, 10-3, Wednesday afternoon in Oxford. Grae Kessinger was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, while Nick Fortes drove in three runs. In its last SEC series, Ole Miss took 2-of-3 games from LSU at home. On the season, Ryan Olenek leads the Rebels with a .398 batting average, while Thomas Dillard has 10 home runs. Ryan Rolison, Friday night’s starting pitcher, is 6-3 with 82 strikeouts in 66.1 innings pitched.

SERIES VS. OLE MISS

> South Carolina currently has a 35-23 series advantage on Ole Miss, which includes an 18-9 record in Columbia against the Rebels. The last meeting between the two teams occurred in 2016. The Gamecocks swept Ole Miss in Oxford, highlighted by a 4-0 shutout in the series finale as Adam Hill struck out four in six innings of work to earn the win. The Rebels then defeated South Carolina, 10-4, in the 2016 SEC Tournament. South Carolina won 2-of-3 games against Ole Miss in the 2014 season, the last meeting between the two teams in Columbia.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION

Friday
South Carolina Logan Chapman (Fr. RHP) 3-0, 4.53 ERA, 43.2 IP, 22 BB, 40 SO
Ole Miss Ryan Rolison (So. LHP) 6-3, 3.26 ERA, 66.1 IP, 26 BB, 82 SO

Saturday
South Carolina Adam Hill (Jr. RHP) 4-5, 4.94 ERA, 51.0 IP, 32 BB, 73 SO
Ole Miss Brady Feigl (Jr. RHP) 7-3, 3.38 ERA, 64.0 IP, 19 BB, 58 SO

Sunday
South Carolina Cody Morris (So. RHP) 6-3, 4.70 ERA, 53.2 IP, 20 BB, 54 SO
Ole Miss James McArthur (Jr. RHP) 5-0, 3.93 ERA, 50.1 IP, 28 BB, 42 SO

COMEBACK KIDS

> South Carolina has come back from deficits in three of its last five games, including twice at Vanderbilt (April 27-29). Carolina was down 6-0 in the fifth inning to LSU on April 22 but rallied for an 8-6 win by scoring eight runs from the sixth through eighth frames. In Friday’s win at Vandy, Carolina was down 7-0 after three inning, but scored twice in the fifth and six in the sixth to earn the 8-7 win. Then on Sunday at Vandy, Carolina came back from 4-0 and 9-6 deficits, scoring seven runs in the final three frames.

KINGSTON CLOSES IN ON MILESTONE

> Head Coach Mark Kingston needs one win to reach 300 victories in his collegiate head coaching career. He is currently at 299-198-1 in his ninth season as a head coach. He won 173 games at Illinois State, an even 100 games at USF and currently has 26 wins in his first season at Carolina.

BULLPEN COMES UP BIG AT VANDY

> The South Carolina bullpen had a big hand in taking the series at Vanderbilt April 27-29. TJ Shook pitched 3.1 hitless innings on Friday, striking out five to earn the win. In fact, the bullpen held Vandy hitless for 6.1 frames on Friday. On Sunday, Graham Lawson recorded the final six outs in a 10-9 win. Lawson picked up his first win of the year while Eddy Demurias had a pair of strikeouts in four innings of relief.

HOPKINS STEADY AT TOP OF LINEUP

> Junior TJ Hopkins had two hits in each of the three games at Vanderbilt and is hitting .444 (16-for-36) since coming back from a hand injury that caused him to miss a month. This season, Hopkins is hitting .358 with eight doubles, two home runs and 21 RBI in 27 starts.