Tennessee thumps Gamecocks in SEC series opener, 15-5
South Carolina baseball’s pitching woes remain as daunting as ever, and the Gamecocks remain winless in the SEC, as Tennessee thumped coach Mark Kingston’s club 15-5 on Friday night.
With several key pitchers dealing with injuries, USC (15-7, 0-4 SEC) used just three pitchers Friday, freshman starter Wesley Sweatt and sophomores John Gilreath and Parker Coyne. Both Sweatt and Gilreath labored heavily on the road, but Kingston, likely reluctant to empty his already thin bullpen in the series opener, left them on the mound to work through trouble.
Sweatt, who lasted 3 1/3 innings, and Gilreath, who went 3 2/3, combined to give up the 16 hits and 12 earned runs, both the most South Carolina has given up all season. Coyne surrendered a solo home run to cap off the rout. The 15 runs are the most South Carolina has given up in a game since April 2017.
The Volunteers’ win is their first against South Carolina since April 2015. Junior center fielder Jay Charleston and junior third baseman Andre Lipcius led the way for UT — Charleston scored four runs off three hits and a walk, while Lipcius added four RBIs, three hits and three runs.
Every Tennessee player to step to the plate reached base. Nine collected hits, and seven contributed RBIs. The Volunteers scattered their runs across six innings, with their two home runs on the day coming after they already lead 12-4. Instead, they relied mainly on singles, stolen bases, errors and the occasional timely extra-base hit to build up their early lead.
The Gamecocks, meanwhile, got the majority of their offense on solo home runs from senior third baseman Jacob Olson, freshman left fielder Brady Allen and freshman pinch hitter Ian Jenkins. Sophomore DH Noah Campbell also scored on a wild pitch, and junior shortstop George Callil drove in another with an RBI fielder’s choice.
With runners in scoring position, USC struggled mightily, hitting just .143. By comparison, the Volunteers hit .500 in those situations and left half as many men on base as Carolina did, five to 10.
Making matters even worse for South Carolina, sophomore right fielder Andrew Eyster, one of the team’s best hitters, left the game in the first inning after colliding with TJ Hopkins chasing a double. He was replaced by freshman Joel Brewer.
Next: South Carolina and Tennessee return for the middle game of their series on Saturday at 6 p.m.
This story was originally published March 22, 2019 at 10:05 PM.
