South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks lose series to Tennessee

South Carolina baseball finished its regular season this weekend.

The South Carolina baseball team ended its 2021 regular season this past weekend in a hard fought series against the Tennessee Volunteers. Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, the ball didn’t bounce their way as the team dropped two of three games to the nation’s fourth ranked program.

South Carolina was in dire need of a series win, with the opportunity of hosting a regional in the NCAA Tournament in sight. That looks unlikely, now, so the Gamecocks will sit back and await their postseason seeding in the coming days.

Mark Kingston’s group got things started in a familiar way, dropping game one in the series opener by a score of 10-4. South Carolina is just 2-8 in conference openers this year, struggling mightily against SEC pitching on Friday nights.

The game seemed headed for a pitcher’s duel, with Tennessee leading 1-0 through three innings, but the Vols would blow the game open in the fourth with a six-run inning. After building the 7-0 lead, starter Chad Dallas would cruise to his ninth win of the year. The ace pitched deep into the eighth frame before handing things over to Sean Hunley for the save.

South Carolina got homers from Wes Clarke and Andrew Eyster, but it wouldn’t be enough. The Gamecocks never got within less than three runs, and they found themselves in an early deficit to start the series.

Game two was a pitcher’s duel, with South Carolina winning a 3-2 ballgame. Brett Kerry made his second start of the year, allowing just two runs in seven innings of work. Julian Bosnic threw a scoreless eighth and ninth to earn his fourth save of the year.

The Volunteers jumped out to another early lead, plating a run in both the third and fourth innings. South Carolina battled back, though, receiving a three-run home run in the fifth from leadoff hitter Brady Allen. The blast gave the Gamecocks a lead they’d not relinquish and forced a rubber match in game three.

The final game of the series saw Allen homer again in the bottom of the first inning before the Vols stormed back for the game’s next five runs. The Gamecocks didn’t give in, notching a three-run eighth frame to pull within one. The bottom of the ninth nearly saw fireworks, as South Carolina got their first batter in scoring position with a leadoff double from Jeff Heinrich, but three straight strikeouts would end the threat and Tennessee escaped with a 5-4 series clinching victory.

South Carolina, though not likely to earn one of the top 16 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, shouldn’t fall too far as a result of the close loss. They’ll gear up for next week’s conference tournament, where they enter as the No. 7 seed. The Gamecocks will face No. 10 Alabama to lead things off on Tuesday.