Vols Fall to South Carolina, 6-2

Friday, March 30

Columbia, SC

7 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

17-11, 4-4

South Carolina

16-11, 3-5

Tennessee

South Carolina

March 30, 2018 | Baseball

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By: Rachel Gunia

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Tennessee fell behind in the fourth inning and was unable to recover versus South Carolina in Friday night's 6-2 loss at Founders Park.

The Volunteers are now 17-11 overall and hold a 4-4 record in conference play while the Gamecocks are 16-11 on the season and own a 3-5 SEC record.

UT was led by sophomore Justin Ammons who recorded two hits and scored both of Tennessee's runs. Jay Charleston also tallied two hits in the outing. Pete Derkay, Evan Russell and Brandon Chinea all added one knock for the Big Orange.

After trading three scoreless innings to start the game, South Carolina used two solo home runs by Carlos Cortes and Danny Blair in back-to-back frames to take a 2-0 lead.

The Vols put runners in scoring position in the first and third innings but were unable to capitalize until the sixth. Ammons drew a walk to lead off the inning before Charleston hit a double down the left field line, putting runners on second and third. Andre Lipcius then hit an RBI groundout to first, driving in Ammons to make it a 2-1 ballgame.

The Gamecocks answered in the bottom of the frame, plating two runs on three hits and a wild pitch. South Carolina went on to extend its lead to 6-1 in the seventh using the team's third solo home run of the night and an RBI double.

Tennessee trimmed SC's lead by one in the eighth inning as Ammons reached base on a single to left. He then advanced around the bases using a walk and fielder's choice before scoring on a throwing error by the Gamecock's second baseman.

Garrett Stallings worked 3.2 shutout innings before allowing a run. The sophomore threw six total innings, allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out four.

Will Heflin took over the mound to start the seventh and gave up two runs on three hits while fanning one. Freshman right hander Donovan Benoit then came in to close the game and threw 1.1 innings, allowing just one hit in the eighth before striking out the final batter he faced in the eighth.

Up Next
The Vols will look to salvage a game in the series finale on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET. The game will be carried on SEC Network and John Wilkerson will have the call on Sports Radio WNML (FM 99.1/AM 990) and UTSports.com for the contest.