Baseball Faces Tennessee in SEC Tournament Opener

FOR STARTERS

• Carolina starts postseason play on Tuesday, May 19 as the Gamecocks face Tennessee in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.
• Tuesday’s first pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. CT) at the Hoover Met in Hoover, Ala.
• Tuesday’s game will be televised on SEC Network with Dave Neal and Lance Cormier on the call.
• Tuesday’s game also will be broadcast on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Derek Scott and Cade Crenshaw on the call.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Tuesday
South Carolina Brandon Stone (Jr. RHP) 5-4, 4.64 ERA, 66.0 IP, 19 BB, 55 SO
Tennessee Cam Appenzeller (Fr. LHP) 5-1, 4.84 ERA, 48.1 IP, 12 BB, 54 SO

SCOUTING TENNESSEE

• The Volunteers are coming off taking 2-of-3 games against Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.
• Trent Grindlinger drove in three runs in Friday’s 9-4 win over the Sooners.
• Grindlinger leads the Vols with a .357 batting average to go along with eight home runs and 29 RBI.
• Henry Ford has team bests with 18 home runs and 53 RBI.
• On the mound, Tegan Kuhns is 5-4 with a 3.39 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 77 innings pitched.
• Josh Elander is in his first season as head coach at Tennessee. He was an assistant at UT from 2018-25, helping the Vols to a national championship in 2024.

SERIES VS. TENNESSEE

• Carolina holds a 67-51 series advantage on Tennessee heading into Tuesday’s game.
• The two teams did not face each other in the regular season.
• The Volunteers swept the three-game series in Columbia in 2025.
• Tennessee is 3-1 against Carolina in the SEC Tournament.
• The Gamecocks defeated Tennessee, 5-1, on its way to the 2004 SEC Tournament title.

SEC TOURNAMENT HISTORY

• Carolina is 33-56 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.
• The Gamecocks lost to Florida, 11-3, in the opening round of last year’s tournament.
• Carolina played in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament in 2024, defeating Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky.