Baseball Visits Auburn for Final Regular-Season Road Trip

FOR STARTERS

• Carolina makes its final road trip of the regular season this week, heading to Auburn for a three-game series May 8-10.
• Thursday’s game begins at 8 p.m. EDT, with Friday and Saturday’s games at 7 and 3:30 p.m. EDT, respectively.
• Thursday’s game will be televised on ESPNU, Friday’s game is on SEC Network Plus and Saturday’s game is televised on SEC Network.
• Clay Matvick and Gregg Olson have the call on Thursday and Saturday.
• All three games also will be on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Derek Scott and Stuart Lake on the call.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Thursday
South Carolina Brandon Stone (So. RHP) 2-5, 5.09 ERA, 53.0 IP, 11 BB, 39 SO
Auburn Cam Tilly (So. RHP) 2-1, 4.78 ERA, 32.0 IP, 20 BB, 41 SO

Friday
South Carolina Jake McCoy (So. LHP) 4-4, 6.18 ERA, 51.0 IP, 31 BB, 69 SO
Auburn Samuel Dutton (Sr. RHP) 6-2, 2.37 ERA, 68.1 IP, 13 BB, 81 SO

Saturday
South Carolina TBA
Auburn Christian Chatterton (Fr. RHP) 4-1, 3.69 ERA, 46.1 IP, 17 BB, 53 SO

SCOUTING AUBURN

• The Tigers won 2-of-3 games at Tennessee this past weekend.
• Lucas Steele drove in three runs in Sunday’s 8-1 win over the Volunteers.
• Chase Fralick leads Auburn with a .337 batting average while Ike Irish has 12 home runs and 42 RBI.
• On the mound, LSU transfer Samuel Dutton is 6-2 with a 2.37 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 68.1 innings pitched.
• Butch Thompson is in his 10th season as head coach at Auburn. He guided the Tigers to College World Series appearances in 2019 and 2022.

SERIES VS. AUBURN

• Carolina leads the overall series with Auburn, 47-31, heading into Thursday’s game.
• The two teams last met in 2023, with Auburn winning 2-of-3 contests.
• Will Tippett homered and drove in three runs and Matthew Becker struck out eight in Carolina’s 8-7 win in the final game of the 2023 series.
• Auburn swept the Gamecocks in 2022, the last time the two teams faced off in Auburn.
• Carolina is 22-15 all-time in games played in Auburn.

GAMECOCKS WIN IN THE MIDWEEK

• Carolina defeated Charleston Southern, 5-3, on April 29.
• It improved the Gamecocks’ midweek record to 12-1 on the year.
• The only loss in the midweek was against current No. 4 team in the country North Carolina.
• The Gamecocks are 21-0 against Quad 2, 3 and 4 teams this season.

TIPPETT’S BLAST BEATS KENTUCKY

• Junior Will Tippett’s two-run home run in the eighth inning helped Carolina to a 5-4 win over Kentucky on April 26.
• It was Tippett’s first home run of the season and first since his home run in the Raleigh Regional vs. N.C. State.
• Ashton Crowther earned the win in relief, striking out four in 2.2 hitless innings.

GAMECOCKS WALK OFF UNF

• KJ Scobey’s ground-rule double scored Jordan Carrion in the bottom of the 10th in a 3-2 win over North Florida.
• It was Carolina’s first walk-off win since the opening game of the 2024 Raleigh Regional when Will Tippett’s sacrifice fly scored Dylan Brewer in an 8-7, 10-inning win over James Madison.
• The win was Carolina’s first in extra innings this season.

STONE GOES ALL NINE IN OLE MISS WIN

• Sophomore Brandon Stone went the distance in the 3-2 win over Ole Miss on April 17, striking out four and allowing two runs on six hits with no walks in nine innings.
• Stone needed just 86 pitches, with 61 of them for strikes, in the nine innings.
• It was Carolina’s first complete game since Noah Hall against Georgia in 2023 and first nine-inning complete game since Brett Kerry against Kentucky in 2021.
• The complete game was just the second nine-inning CG in the league this season (LSU’s Kade Anderson vs. Oklahoma) and the third overall (LSU’s Anthony Eyanson vs. Texas A&M).
• Stone’s defense was big as the Gamecocks turned three double plays, including one with a runner on and no one out in the ninth.
• Stone retired the first seven batters of the game and had four 1-2-3 frames.

OLE MISS SERIES NOTES

• Jake McCoy followed Stone’s performance was a great one of his own, striking out seven and allowing just three hits and a run in 6.1 innings in Friday’s 7-2 win.
• Carolina turned six double plays in the three games this weekend. 

HALL OF HITTING

• Nathan Hall continues to have a stellar junior season for the Gamecocks.
• Hall has a .345 batting average to go along with seven home runs and 37 RBI.
• Hall leads the team with 12 steals, which is tied for ninth in the SEC, and has added 12 doubles.
• In the game against Ole Miss on April 18, Hall homered and drove in three runs, including a big two-run single in the eighth.

FROSH AT THE CORNERS

• Freshmen KJ Scobey and Beau Hollins are manning the corners for Carolina this season.
• Scobey has played in 48 games this season and has five home runs and 18 RBI.
• Hollins had four hits in games against Tennessee and Mississippi State and currently has a .302 batting average with 24 runs scored.
• The duo is joined by fellow freshman Gavin Braland, who had four hits and two RBI in the Kentucky series.

UP NEXT

• The Gamecocks host Winthrop on Tuesday, May 13, to start the final week of the regular season.
• First pitch is at 6:30 p.m., at Ray Tanner Field at Founders Park.
• Tuesday’s game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.