No. 22 Vols Drop Nail-Biter to No. 24 Gamecocks on Saturday Night

Saturday, March 23

Knoxville

6 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

19-5, 1-4

#24 South Carolina

16-7, 1-4

South Carolina

Tennessee

No. 22 Vols Drop Nail-Biter to No. 24 Gamecocks on Saturday Night

March 23, 2019 | Baseball

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By: Sean Barows

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 22 Tennessee dropped a tight contest to No. 24 South Carolina Saturday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, falling 3-2 to the Gamecocks in Game Two of the weekend series.

A three-run seventh inning for USC proved to be the difference in the game. Back-to-back RBI doubles with two outs by Chris Cullen and Jordan Halladay gave the Gamecocks' a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish.

The Vols had great chances to tie or even take the lead in the eighth and ninth innings but were unable to come up with the big hit they needed.

Max Ferguson and Alerick Soularie led the Big Orange at the plate with two hits and an RBI each. Ferguson, a freshman from Atlantic Beach, Fla., singled with two outs in the fifth to open the scoring while Soularie singled in the sixth to score Jay Charleston to give UT a 2-0 lead.

Zach Linginfelter was stuck with the loss despite a solid outing, falling to 4-2 on the year. The junior right hander from Sevierville retired 10 straight batters before giving up three runs on a pair of hits in the seventh inning. Linginfelter gave up just four hits, struck out five and did not walk anyone in 6.2 innings of work.

Despite giving up the lead in the seventh, junior reliever Andrew Schultz kept the deficit at one with 2.1 innings of shutout ball. The Georgia native set a new career high with six strikeouts on the night.

Tennessee loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth after back-to-back walks and a bunt single, but Gamecocks' closer Brett Kerry struck out the next three batters to escape the jam unscathed.

The Vols put the tying run on third base in the ninth after Ferguson led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a fly ball to center. Andre Lipcius worked a five-pitch walk to put runners at the corners for Soularie with two outs, but Kerry struck out the sophomore looking on a 2-2 count to end the game.

Cam Tringali got the win for South Carolina after tossing 1.2 shutout innings in relief of Gamecock's starter Reid Morgan, who lasted 5.1 innings while allowing two runs on five hits.

NOTABLE
FERGUSON STEPPING UP FOR VOLS: True freshman infielder Max Ferguson has stepped up his game for the Vols over the last week. The Florida native has a hit in each of his last four games with six total in that span to go along with two runs and two RBI.

SOULARIE EXTENDS HIT STREAK: With a pair of hits on Saturday night, Alerick Soularie extended his hit streak to 11 games. Over that span, Soularie leads the team with a .475 batting average, six homers and 13 runs to go along with 14 RBI.

UP NEXT: The rubber game between the Vols and Gamecocks will be tomorrow at Lindsey Nelson Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. Fans can watch the series finale online via SEC Network+ and the WatchESPN app. John Wilkerson will also call the action for the Vol Radio Network (FM 99.1 / AM 990).