Preview: Gamecocks return home to face southpaw heavy Vols
WHAT: Tennessee (18-11, 3-6) at South Carolina (25-5, 7-2)
WHERE: Founders Park, Columbia, SC
WHEN: Friday 7 p.m.; Saturday 4 p.m., Sunday 1:30 p.m. (All times Eastern)
RADIO/TV: Gamecock Radio Network (107.5 FM in Columbia with Andy Demetra and Tommy Moody); SEC Network Plus (Derek Scott and Trey Dyson)
All-TIME SERIES: USC leads 55-36
LAST TIME: Tennessee won 2 of 3 (April 24-26, 2015)
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS:
Friday: USC RHP Clarke Schmidt (6-1, 1.80 ERA, 50.0 IP, 7 BB, 60 K) vs. TEN LHP Aaron Soto (So. LHP) 3-0, 3.38 ERA, 21.1 IP, 6 BB, 14 SO
Saturday: USC RHP Braden Webb (6-1, 1.70 ERA, 42.1 IP, 22 BB, 53 K) vs. TEN LHP Zach Warren (4-2, 2.98 ERA, 42.1 IP, 13 BB, 40 K)
Sunday: USC RHP Aaron Hill (5-0, 2.51 ERA, 32.1 IP, 12 BB, 46 K) vs. TEN LHP Andy Cox (2-3, 7.07 ERA, 35.2 IP, 27 BB, 35 K)
South Carolina encounters something it has not previously faced this season: three left-handed starting pitchers.
Tennessee, which has yet to win an SEC series, intends to throw a trio of southpaws at the Gamecocks, which features a predominately left-handed heavy lineup. Which team has the advantage?
“With the amount of left-handed hitters we have in our lineup, that creates some challenges for us,” Chad Holbrook said Thursday. “Some of our lefties (hitters) have to hit better against lefties (pitchers). Some of them are doing fine. We’ve had some success against lefthanded pitching this year. Our left-handed hitters have gotten some big hits against lefty pitchers.
“I’m not going to take all my best players out of the lineup just because they are throwing a lot of lefties.”
Nonetheless, the importance of USC’s righthanded hitters rises this weekend, including Madison Stokes, who returned to the starting lineup Tuesday night after recovering from an injury.
“He’s a threat and we need another middle of the lineup righthanded bat in there to help out and protect out lefthanded hitters.”
USC will counter the Vols’ plan with the same three righthanders that started last week’s series at Vanderbilt. Braden Webb registered 25 strikeouts in 16.0 innings against Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, and has won back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week honors.
“He has certainly been very dominant and threw the ball very well against two really good teams in tough environments,” Holbrook said. “His stuff has always been impressive since he got here. The velocity on his fastball is elite and his breaking ball is one of the best we’ve had here in a long time. He has a great changeup. He has the whole arsenal to be an All-SEC or All-America type pitcher. He has become more polished. In his last two starts, he has put it all together.”
After walking just four batters in his first five starts totaling 22.1 innings, Hill has issued eight free passes in his last two starts, both on the road at Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
“Adam has done well,” Holbrook said. “In his last two starts, he would be the first to tell you that he hasn’t thrown it as well as he hoped. His command has been a little shaky. He has been missing spots. But when he is locked in and hitting his spots, he is very difficult to hit. I have the utmost confidence in Adam. He has good stuff and he competes.”
STATS + FACTS by DOUG ADAMS
USC-Tennessee Series: USC holds a 32-14 advantage in Columbia...Tennessee’s 4-3 win on April 25, 2015 snapped a nine-game USC winning streak in the series... Carolina has won 17 of the last 20 games played against Tennessee...Tennessee last won a series in Columbia in 2006.
Entering the 2015 Series Against Tennessee Compared to 2016: Carolina played Tennessee on April 24-26 in Knoxville last season...The Gamecocks entered the series with a 25-17 record overall and 8-10 in SEC play...This season, USC is 25-5 overall and 7-2 in SEC play.
Vanderbilt Recap: The Commodores took two of three from the Gamecocks in Nashville...Vandy won 6-3 on Thursday and 10-6 on Saturday while the Gamecocks took the Friday game 4-0...It was Vanderbilt’s first series win against Carolina since 2013...Vanderbilt’s last series win against Carolina in Nashville was in 2008.
Coastal Carolina: The Gamecocks defeated Coastal Carolina, 4-2, on Tuesday night at Founders Park in their fifth meeting since 2010...The Gamecocks lead the overall series with Coastal 14-6 and hold a 10-2 lead in Columbia...The win improved USC to 19-1 at Founders Park.
Scouting Tennessee: The Vols are 18-11 overall and 3-6 in SEC play...UT beat Morehead State 6-5 on Wednesday night...The Vols has already lost two of three in series against Ole Miss, Alabama and Kentucky. The Ole Miss and Kentucky series were in Knoxville while the Alabama series was in Tuscaloosa...Nick Senzel leads the team in SEC play with a .371 batting average...The Vols are hitting .266 in conference play while opponents are batting .311...Tennessee pitching staff has an ERA of 6.15 in SEC games.
John Jones: Reached base in 26 straight games. ... Hitting .361 in SEC play. ... Batting .360 with six homers and 33 runs batted in.
Dom Thompson-Williams: Hitting streak was snapped at 14 games while his reached base streak ended at 26. ... Tied for the team lead with seven doubles. ... Batting .351 with four home runs and 27 runs batted in.
LT Tolbert: Hitting .243 with one homer, one triple, five doubles.
Chris Cullen: Hitting .273 with 16 runs batted in.
TJ Hopkins ... Hitting .306 with one home run and 11 runs batted in.
Marcus Mooney: Hitting .305 with one homer and 15 runs batted in.
Gene Cone: Batted .214 (3-14) with a run scored against Tennessee in 2015...Reached base in 19 straight games...Has a hit in 16 straight games. ... Leads the team with a .389 batting average in SEC play. ... Hit in the leadoff spot in 13 straight games.
DC Arendas: Batted 3-11 (.272) with three runs scored against the Vols in 2015. ... Went 4-10 with four runs scored, a homer and two runs batted in against Vanderbilt last week. ... Has a hit in each of the last four games.
Alex Destino: Batted 2-9 (.222) with an RBI in 2015 at Tennessee...Currently on a 20 game hitting streak...Injured in Game 2 at Vanderbilt and missed Tuesday night’s win over Coastal Carolina. Status is questionable to doubtful for the UT series.
Madison Stokes: Made his first start of the season on Tuesday against Coastal Carolina...Has one hit in five at bats this season.
Clarke Schmidt: Pitched 4.2 innings at Tennessee in 2015 allowing three hits, and one run. ... Pitched a complete game in the series opener at Vandy. It was the first complete game of his career. ... Allowed eight hits, one walk, six runs, four earned against the Commodores. He struck out nine.
Braden Webb: Pitched eight innings in USC’s 4-0 win over Vandy last Friday, allowing two hits, three walks and no runs with 11 strikeouts...In his last three starts, he has combined for 22.1 innings pitched, nine hits, five runs, four earned, and nine walks. He has struck out 32. Opponents are hitting .123 against him. ... 6-1 with a 1.70 ERA in seven starts. ... Opponents are hitting .137 against him.
Adam Hill: Record is 5-0 with a 2.51 ERA in seven starts. ... Made three starts in SEC play and has a 1-0 record with 5.54 ERA. ... SEC opponents are hitting .229 against him.
Vince Fiori: Started the second game of the series at Tennessee in 2015...Pitched two innings against the Vols allowing two runs on two hits and one walk...Has a 3.86 ERA in six appearances this season.
Reed Scott: Picked up the loss in the second game of the series against Tennessee last season going 1.1 innings allowing one run on two hits...Pitched in the series finale against UT in 2015 allowing one hit in 2/3 of an inning...Has 12 appearances this season...Prior to Coastal, his last appearance was against College of Charleston on March 29th.
Brandon Murray: Pitched 0.2 innings against the Vols last season allowing three runs on four hits...12 appearances on the season.
Taylor Widener: Allowed two hits in the second game of the series against Tennessee in 2015...Made his fifth start of the season on Tuesday against Coastal Carolina. It was his first start since March 15th against USC Upstate...Struck out five of the first 10 Coastal batters that he faced...Allowed a double in the first inning and then retired the next 10 batters. He pitched a total of five innings.
Josh Reagan: Started the series finale against Tennessee last season. Allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings of work...1-0 with a 0.35 ERA in 16 appearances...Leads the team with eight saves. ... Has 24 strikeouts to three walks in 26 innings of work.
SEC SCHEDULE (April 7-10)
(ALL THREE-GAME SERIES)
Tennessee at South Carolina
Alabama at Kentucky
Arkansas at Ole Miss
Auburn at Missouri
Mississippi State at Florida
Georgia at Texas A&M
Vanderbilt at LSU
SEC EAST STANDINGS
South Carolina 7-2
Florida 7-2
Vanderbilt 6-3
Kentucky 6-3
Georgia 4-5
Tennessee 3-6
Missouri 2-7
