Gamecock Baseball Notebook

May 20, 2018

COLUMBIA ââ’¬” The University of South Carolina baseball team closed out the regular season by winning its fifth straight SEC series, defeating Texas A&M in 2-of-3 games in College Station, Texas.

Record: 32-22
SEC: 17-13
Home: 24-10
Away: 8-10
Neutral: 0-2
Streak: W2

Last Week:
5/17/18 ââ’¬” at Texas A&M (L, 3-6)
5/18/18 ââ’¬” at Texas A&M (W, 5-3)
5/19/18 ââ’¬” at Texas A&M (W, 10-1)

NOTES:
South Carolina is the fifth seed in the upcoming SEC Baseball Tournament and will play Tuesday (May 22) against Missouri in the final game of the day. The approximate start time is 8:45 p.m. ET (7:45 p.m. CT).

The Gamecocks and Tigers play a three-game series in South Carolina in the penultimate SEC series of the year. South Carolina won 2-of-3 games, including a dramatic 1-0 victory over Missouri on Sunday as Carlos Cortes hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

South Carolina and Missouri have played each other twice in Hoover. Missouri won 5-1 in the 2015 tournament, while last year, South Carolina picked up a 10-2 win as Carlos Cortes homered twice in the victory.

South Carolina won the SEC Tournament in 2004, going a perfect 4-0 with a 3-2 win over Vanderbilt in the championship game. The Gamecocks are 28-46 all-time at the SEC Tournament and went 3-2 in last year’s version.

The Gamecocks enter the tournament winning its final five SEC series, including taking 2-of-3 games from Texas A&M. South Carolina had an 11-4 record in those five series, hitting .308 with a .479 slugging percentage. Justin Row hit .362 in those 15 games while Carlos Cortes had six home runs and 17 RBI.

Cody Morris had a great outing in the regular-season finale against Texas A&M, striking out seven and allowing an unearned run with no walks in seven innings of work. This was coming off an SEC Pitcher of the Week performance against Missouri when he struck out 10 batters in seven innings. Morris is 7-3 overall with a 3.80 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 71 innings pitched.

Madison Stokes had a great week in College Station. He hit .500 (6-for-12) with a pair of home runs and four RBI in the three games. Stokes leads the Gamecocks with a .347 average and has 10 doubles, 10 home runs and 37 RBI this season.

Graham Lawson picked up the save in Friday night’s win, striking out three in four innings of relief. He allowed just one hit and struck out Will Frizzell with runners on second and third to end the game, giving the Gamecocks the 5-3 win. It was Lawson’s first save to go with a 1-1 record and 19 strikeouts in 19.2 innings pitched.

South Carolina heads into the SEC Tournament with a .982 fielding percentage, which is currently fifth in the country. The Gamecocks had a 78-inning errorless streak snapped on Saturday, but Carolina remains second in the conference in fielding behind Vanderbilt with no player having more than five errors on the season.

Next Week
5/22/18 ââ’¬” vs. Missouri (SEC Tournament) ââ’¬” TBD (SEC Network)
5/23-27/18 ââ’¬” at SEC Tournament (Hoover, Ala.)