Baseball Falls to Tennessee in Regular-Season Finale

COLUMBIA  – The University of South Carolina baseball team scored three times in the bottom of the eighth and had a runner in scoring position in the ninth, but the Gamecocks fell to No. 4 Tennessee, 5-4, Saturday afternoon (May 22) in the regular-season finale at Founders Park.
 
Brady Allen opened the first by hitting the first pitch out of the park for his 13^th home run of the season. Tennessee answered with a run in the second and four runs in the fourth, capped by a three-run home run from Connor Pavolony.
 
Carolina mounted a rally in the eighth. Allen and Andrew Eyster opened the inning with singles. Allen scored on Wes Clarke’s double. Josiah Sightler then brought in a run with an infield single and David Mendham’s RBI groundout made it 5-4. Jeff Heinrich opened the ninth with a double to right but Sean Hunley had three straight strikeouts to end the game.
 
The loss went to Thomas Farr, who struck out seven and allowed seven hits and five runs in five innings of work. Will Sanders struck out a pair in 2.1 innings and Daniel Lloyd pitched 1.2 hitless innings. Blade Tidwell had six strikeouts in seven innings, allowing six hits and four runs to earn the win.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Carolina ends the regular season with a 33-20 overall record and a 16-14 SEC record, good for fourth place in the East.
• Brady Allen was 3-for-5 on the day and had four hits and four RBI in the series.
• Carolina had an eight-game improvement over 2019, the last full season of SEC play, in the win column.
• The Gamecocks honored 2020 seniors Bryant Bowen, Dallas Beaver, Graham Lawson and Sawyer Bridges and 2021 seniors Jaret Bennett, George Callil and Joe Satterfield before today’s game.

UP NEXT
Carolina will now turn its attention to the 2021 SEC Tournament at the Hoover Met in Hoover, Ala. The Gamecocks will be the seventh seed and play an opponent to be determined Tuesday afternoon (May 25) at approximately 2 p.m. Central (1 p.m. Eastern).