Baseball Opens SEC Tournament Play Tuesday vs. Florida

FOR STARTERS

• Carolina starts postseason play on Tuesday afternoon (May 20) as the Gamecocks will compete in the 2025 SEC Tournament at the Hoover Met in Hoover, Ala.
• The Gamecocks are the No. 15 seed in the tournament and will face No. 10 Florida.
• Tuesday night’s game starts at 5:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. CT).
• Tuesday’s game will be televised on SEC Network with Tom Hart and Lance Cormier on the call.
• Tuesday’s game will be on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Derek Scott and Stuart Lake on the call.
• The winner of the Carolina/Florida game will face Ole Miss on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. CT).

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Tuesday
South Carolina Brandon Stone (So. RHP) 2-6, 6.07 ERA, 59.1 IP, 13 BB, 43 SO
Florida Billy Barlow (Sr. RHP) 1-4, 5.95 ERA, 42.1 IP, 20 BB, 44 SO

SCOUTING FLORIDA

• The Gators took 2-of-3 games against Alabama to close the regular season.
• Brody Donay had three RBI in the 7-6 win in the series finale.
• Bobby Boser is hitting .327 for the Gators with 15 home runs and 58 RBI. Donay leads the team with 16 home runs
• On the mound, Aidan King is 6-2 with a 2.76 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 65.1 innings pitched.
• Kevin O’Sullivan is in his 18th season at Florida. He guided the Gators to a 2017 national championship and nine CWS appearances.

SERIES VS. FLORIDA

• Florida has a 57-56 series advantage on Carolina heading into this weekend.
• Florida swept the regular-season series with the Gamecocks in Columbia. Jase Woita had five hits and a home run in the series
• Carolina has faced Florida eight times in the SEC Tournament and is 4-4 against the Gators.
• The last meeting between the two teams in Hoover took place in 2022, when Florida won 2-1 in 10 innings.

SEC TOURNAMENT HISTORY

• Carolina is 33-55 all-time in SEC Tournament play.
• The Gamecocks won the event in 2004, winning four games, including a 3-2 win over Vanderiblt in the tournament final.
• Carolina went 3-2 in last year’s tournament, defeating Alabama (10-5), Arkansas (6-5) and Kentucky (6-5) and falling to LSU 11-10 and 12-11 in 10 innings in the semifinal game.
• Carolina played in the semifinals for the first time since 2017.
• Cole Messina was named to the All-Tournament team after driving in 16 runs in five games with six of them in the first LSU game and a game-winning home run in the ninth against Arkansas.

GAMECOCKS KNOCK OFF NO. 1 LSU

• Carolina scored a pair of runs, including a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth to defeat No. 1 LSU 6-5 on May 15.
• Trailing 5-4 in the ninth, KJ Scobey tied the game with a one-out solo home run to the bullpen in left.
• Jase Woita then followed with a triple to left field.
• After a line out for the second out of the inning, pinch runner Dalton Mashore scored on a wild pitch with Cayden Gaskin at the plate.
• It was Carolina’s second walk-off win of season. Scobey’s ground-rule double in the bottom of the 10th gave the Gamecocks a 3-2 win on April 22.
• Carolina earned a win over the number one team for the first time since USC defeated LSU 13-5 on April 6, 2023.
• Carolina had three triples in Thursday’s win, two off the bat of Henry Kaczmar, who drove in two runs.
• Matthew Becker earned the win on the mound, while Ashton Crowther and Brandon Stone combined for eight strikeouts in 8.2 innings of work.

GAMECOCKS WIN IN THE MIDWEEK

• Carolina defeated Winthrop, 6-5, on May 13.
• It improved the Gamecocks’ midweek record to 13-1 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 3 and 4 teams this season.

KAZ, WOITA GETTING HOT IN SEC PLAY

• Henry Kaczmar and Jase Woita are leading the team in average in conference games this season.
• Woita had five hits in the Auburn series, including his fifth home run on May 8, and is now hitting .333 with three home runs and eight RBI in SEC games.
• Kaczmar homered in the LSU series and ended SEC play hitting .333 with five home runs and a team best 17 RBI in 30 contests.

FROSH AT THE CORNERS

• Freshmen KJ Scobey and Beau Hollins are manning the corners for Carolina this season.
• Scobey has played in 55 games this season and has eight home runs and 26 RBI.
• Scobey homered in the bottom of the ninth on May 15 against LSU to tie the game at five.
• Hollins gave Carolina a 6-5 lead over Winthrop with his three-run double in the eighth.
• Hollins has four hits in a game three times this season, including May 9 at Auburn.
• Hollins is hitting .303 with six home runs and 24 RBI this season.
• The duo is joined by fellow freshman Gavin Braland, who had an RBI single in Friday’s game against LSU.

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.

HALL OF HITTING

• Nathan Hall continues to have a stellar junior season for the Gamecocks.
• Hall has a .319 batting average to go along with seven home runs and 38 RBI.
• Hall leads the team with 14 steals and has added 13 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.