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Baseball Opens SEC Tournament Play Tuesday
Baseball  . 

Baseball Opens SEC Tournament Play Tuesday

Game Notes Live Audio Live Video Live Stats

FOR STARTERS

  • South Carolina starts postseason play Tuesday afternoon (May 21) with the 2024 SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala.
  • Carolina, the 10 seed, will face seventh-seed Alabama Tuesday at 1 p.m. CDT (2 p.m. EDT).
  • The game will be televised on SEC Network with Dave Neal and Lance Cormier on the call.
  • Tuesday’s game also will be on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Derek Scott and Stuart Lake on the call.

SCOUTING ALABAMA

  • The Crimson Tide won the final game of a three-game set at Auburn, 12-5, as Gage Miller went 4-for-6 with five RBI and Ben Hess struck out nine in 6.2 innings.
  • Miller leads Alabama with a .383 batting average to go along with 18 home runs and 55 RBI.
  • Freshman Justin Lebron has a .340 average with 11 home runs.
  • Greg Farone is 4-3 with a 4.27 ERA on the mound. He has 61 strikeouts in 65.1 innings pitched.
  • Rob Vaughn is in his first season as the head coach at Alabama. Vaughn came to the Crimson Tide from Maryland, where he was a two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year.

SERIES VS. ALABAMA

  • Carolina leads the all-time series with Alabama, 41-32, heading into Tuesday’s game.
  • The Gamecocks are 1-3 all-time against the Crimson Tide in the SEC Tournament, winning the 2009 matchup, 9-5. The most recent game between the two teams was in 2021 as Alabama won 9-3.
  • Carolina won the final game of the three-game set on March 28-30. The Gamecocks defeated the Crimson Tide, 9-8, behind three hits from Cole Messina and three innings of scoreless relief by Ty Good.

SEC TOURNAMENT HISTORY

  • Carolina is 30-53 all-time in SEC Tournament play.
  • The Gamecocks won the event in 2004, winning four games, including a 3-2 win over Vanderbilt in the tournament final.
  • Carolina went 1-2 in last year’s tournament, defeating Georgia 9-0 before falling to LSU (10-3) and Texas A&M (5-0).

WHERE WE STAND

  • Carolina has a No. 19 RPI and a No. 7 strength of schedule as of May 19. That is the eighth best RPI in the SEC.
  • The Gamecocks have nine wins and 27 overall Quad 1 games.
  • Carolina was 6-3 against fellow 13-win teams in the SEC (3-0 vs. Vanderbilt, 2-1 vs. Florida, 1-2 vs. Alabama).
  • Carolina has played each of the top seven teams in the RPI. The Gamecocks had three-game series with Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Georgia, played Clemson twice and North Carolina once.
  • The Gamecocks have played the second-most top-25 games and have the second-most top-10 wins in the conference.


MESSINA NAMED SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC

  • Cole Messina was named to the All-SEC second team at catcher on May 20.
  • This is the second straight year that Messina has earned all-conference honors.
  • Messina leads the Gamecocks with a .312 batting average to go along with 18 doubles, 16 home runs and 53 RBI.
  • Messina was named SEC Player of the Week after going 9-for-14 with seven runs scored and two home runs in a series win over Missouri.
  • Messina is Carolina’s first two-time All-SEC awardwinner since Matt Price and Christian Walker were named to the All-SEC teams in 2011 and 2012. Price was a three time selection, earning honors in 2010.

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
South Carolina Dylan Eskew (R-Jr. RHP) 3-4, 4.67 ERA, 54.0 IP, 22 BB, 37 SO
Alabama Greg Farone (LHP) 4-3, 4.27 ERA, 65.1 IP, 21 BB, 61 SO

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