USC-Vanderbilt baseball series: How to watch, projected lineups

No. 5 South Carolina is set to face No. 3 Vanderbilt in Nashville as the Gamecocks play their third straight SEC series against a ranked opponent.

▪  What: South Carolina (23-3, 6-0) vs. Vanderbilt (21-4, 4-2)

▪  When: Game 1 at 8 p.m. Thursday; Game 2 at 7:30 p.m. Friday; Game 3 at 3 p.m. Saturday

▪  Where: Hawkins Field (Nashville, Tenn.)

▪  Radio: 107.5 FM in the Columbia area

▪  Watch: ESPNU on Thursday, SEC Network Plus (Digital) on Friday, SEC Network on Saturday

PROBABLE PITCHERS

▪  Game 1: USC, Clarke Schmidt (So. RHP 6-0, 1.29 ERA, 42 IP, 6 BB, 51 Ks vs. Vandy, Jordan Sheffield (So. RHP 3-1, 2.21 ERA, 36 2/3 IP, 17 BB, 51 Ks)

▪  Game 2: USC, Braden Webb (Fr. RHP 5-1, 2.10 ERA, 34 1/3 IP, 19 BB, 42 Ks) vs. Vandy, Kyle Wright (So. RHP 4-0, 1.37 ERA, 26 1/3 IP, 8 BB, 35 Ks)

▪  Game 3: USC, Adam Hill (Fr. RHP 5-0, 1.91 ERA, 28 1/3 IP, 7 BB, 41 Ks vs. Vandy TBA)

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS

SOUTH CAROLINA

CF Gene Cone (.324 BA, 5 2Bs, 1 HR, 9 RBIs, .416 OBP)

1B LT Tolbert (.260 BA, 5 2Bs, 1 HR, 12 RBIs, .327 OBP)

DH John Jones (.384 BA, 5 2Bs, 6 HRs, 32 RBIs, .492 OBP)

LF Alex Destino (.352 BA, 7 2B, 4 HRs, 25 RBIs, .397 OBP)

RF Dom Thompson-Williams (.367 BA, 6 2Bs, 2 3Bs, 4 HRs, 24 RBIs, .471 OBP)

3B Jonah Bride (.264 BA, 4 2Bs, 12 RBIs, .415 OBP)

C Chris Cullen (.300 BA, 6 2Bs, 16 RBIs, .363 OBP)

2B DC Arendas (.217 BA, 4 2Bs, 1 HR, 10 RBIs, .329 OBP)

SS Marcus Mooney (.313 BA, 6 2Bs, 1 HR, 14 RBIs, .424 OBP)

VANDERBILT

LF Ro Coleman (.270 BA, 1 2B, 1 3B, 10 RBIs, .372 OBP)

RF Jeren Kendall (.347 BA, 6 2Bs, 2 3Bs, 4 HRs, 27 RBIs, .427 OBP)

CF Bryan Reynolds (.319 BA, 6 2Bs, 2 3Bs, 6 HRs, 28 RBIs, .450 OBP)

3B Will Toffey (.277 BA, 5 2Bs, 10 RBIs, .461 OBP)

C Jason Delay (.300 BA, 7 2Bs, 20 RBIs, .333 OBP)

DH Alonzo Jones (.293 BA, 6 2Bs, 2 3Bs, 1 HR, 22 RBIs, .390 OBP)

2B Ethan Paul (.333 BA, 4 2Bs, 1 3B, 1 HR, 15 RBIs, .486 OBP)

1B Kyle Smith (.293 BA, 1 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBIs, .423 OBP)

SS Tyler Campbell (.299 BA, 2 3Bs, 14 RBIs, .379 OBP)

SERIES NOTES

▪  Both teams are ranked in the top 10 in every national poll.

▪  South Carolina has outscored its opponents 50-13 in the first two innings of play this year. The Gamecocks are 19-9 on the year when scoring first.

▪  USC leads the series with Vanderbilt 53-28 and recorded a series win over the Commodores last year.

Matt Connolly

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 6:11 PM.