South Carolina baseball swept by Tennessee, ending regular season with six straight losses
South Carolina baseball had no easy road to redeem itself after getting swept by Georgia a week ago. And the road was bumpy in Knoxville after No. 1 Tennessee made it six straight losses for the Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks (33-21, 13-17 SEC) concluded the regular season with three losses to the Vols (46-10, 22-8), including 9-3 on Thursday, 8-4 on Friday and 4-1 on Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
An issue last week for the Gamecocks was failing to come back from early deficits, which remained true on Saturday. The Gamecocks were down 4-0 after six innings and never were able to claw back. In the eighth, the Gamecocks had great position to change the game when Talmadge LeCroy singled and Parker Noland scored. If Austin Brinling was able to get on base, the Gamecocks would have had their home run leader Ethan Petry in position but instead, three outs and the deficit stayed 4-1.
Thursday and Friday, the Gamecocks couldn't hold onto early leads. Thursday, South Carolina scored a run in the first inning but the Vols matched it and added four in the third and cruised. Friday it looked like things would shift in the Gamecocks' favor after being up 3-0 in the sixth. The Gamecocks held a 4-3 advantage into the seventh but Blake Burke's grand slam gave the Vols an 8-3 lead.
The Gamecocks allowed 21 runs, and 27 hits in the three games. South Carolina used 11 different pitchers.
South Carolina baseball's SEC tournament fate
The Gamecocks are the No. 10 seed in the SEC tournament and will face No. 7 seed Alabama (33-21, 13-17) on Tuesday (2 p.m., SEC Network) in an elimination game.
In March, the Gamecocks lost two of three games to the Crimson Tide but rallied to win 9-8 in the final game and avoid the sweep. The Crimson Tide beat the Gamecocks 4-3 and 13-6 in the first two games.
The winner of Tuesday's game will play No. 2 seed Arkansas on Wednesday (2 p.m., SEC Network) when the tournament moves to a double-elimination format.
South Carolina baseball NCAA tournament projections
On May 15, the latest NCAA Tournament projections from Baseball America and D1 Baseball have the Gamecocks in the Santa Barbara regional and Clemson regional, respectively.
GEORGIA RECAP: Why South Carolina baseball getting swept by Georgia may cost Gamecocks as NCAA regional host
D1Baseball's prediction has the Gamecocks as the No. 2 seed in the Clemson regional and Baseball America projects the Gamecocks as the No. 3 seed with UC Santa Barbara as the regional host.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina baseball swept by Tennessee to finish regular season
