South Carolina begins a three game series in Knoxville tonight. The Gameocks take on the Volunteers for the fourth conference series for each team.
Last Meetings: In 2010 South Carolina swept Tennessee in Columbia. The Gamecocks won the season series two games to one in 2009, 2008 and 2007. USC has won 5 in a row and 10 of the last 13.
Let’s break this down a bit further for you by starting with the Pitching Probables:
| South Carolina | Tennessee | |
| Fri | Roth, 6-1, 1.44 | Catapano, 2-1, 3.18 |
| Sat | Holmes, 2-0, 3.91 | Gruver, 3-3, 3.04 |
| Sun | Koumas, 3-0, 2.10 | TBA |
This Season: Tennessee isn’t having their dream season even though they may have had a dream schedule. They have played outside of Tennessee for only 6 games. They played at Florida and at Kentucky. Florida swept the Vols, and Kentucky took two of three from them. Tennessee also dropped a home series to Ole Miss and is 2-7 in conference.
Pitching: This isn’t the strength of the team. Tennessee’s team ERA is a robust 4.17 (before the Presbyterian game), and opponents are batting .275 against them. For the most part the staff consists of many guys you’ve never heard of. There may be one guy you’ll remember after this weekend: Steven Gruver. The junior left hander has struck out 49 in 47.1 innings while walking only 10. His ERA is 3.04, but he has given up 45 hits, so people reach base against him. This series isn’t going to be decided by Tennessee’s pitching; the Volunteer bats will have to keep them in it.
Batting: This is where the Volunteers can be competitive. As a team the Vols are batting .307. They have 20 home runs and like to run. They’ve stolen 63 bases in 78 attempts. (For comparison, their opponents have stolen 20 in 36 attempts.) Gamecock pitchers will be aware of second baseman Khayyan Norfork who is batting .417 with 27 RBI. Senior Third Baseman Matt Duffy is another dangerous hitter who is batting .388 with 5 HR and 30 RBI. Watch out for Shortstop Zach Osborne (.333) and Freshman Centerfielder Andrew Toles (.306).
What South Carolina needs: It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Vanderbilt and Florida are going to have good conference records this year. If South Carolina wants to keep pace, they are going to have to win a lot of games. This weekend trip to Tennessee is an opportunity to pick up at least two games, and maybe three. If the Gamecocks win two out of three on the road in conference, I think you’d have to call that a success. If they manage to sweep, that’d be great, and it would keep in the lead in the East. Should the Gamecocks lose the series, they’ll have to make up those games somewhere along the line, probably against stiffer competition
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