On Wednesday, March 11, the Southeastern Conference and Commissioner Greg Sankey announced that all SEC Championships, as well as regular-season events held on campuses, will have attendance restrictions through the end of March in order to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Attendance at championship events such as the men’s basketball tournament taking place in Nashville this week, will be limited to “essential staff, limited family and credentialed media” with all campus events featuring similar attendance restrictions. To view the SEC’s full statement and release, click HERE.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 20 Tennessee opens Southeastern Conference play this weekend with a trip to Columbia, S.C., to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Vols and Gamecocks are both coming off convincing midweek victories over in-state opponents and will be looking to get off to a strong start in conference play.

Broadcast Info
This weekend’s entire series will be streamed on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app. Burch Antley (PxP) and Kip Bouknight (color) will have the call for all three contests.

Fans can also listen to the games on the radio via the Vol Network (FM 99.1 / AM 990) as well as UTSports.com and the UT Gameday app, as John Wilkerson calls the action.

Projected Starting Pitchers
Game 1: RHP Chad Dallas (4 GS, 3-0, 2.53 ERA) vs. RHP Carmen Mlodzinski (4 GS, 2-1, 2.84 ERA)
Game 2: LHP Garrett Crochet (1 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Thomas Farr (3 GS, 3-0, 1.72 ERA)
Game 3: TBD vs. RHP Brannon Jordan (4 GS, 2-0, 1.71 ERA)

Series History vs. South Carolina
Overall: SC leads, 65-38
In Knoxville: SC leads, 24-22
In Columbia: SC leads, 38-14
Neutral Sites: SC leads, 3-2
Last Meeting: W, 6-3 (March 24, 2019)

Tennessee won last year’s series but has struggled historically in Columbia. The Vols will be looking to earn their first series victory in Columbia since 2006.

Notable
Crochet and Sewell Make Season Debuts
Two of Tennessee’s top returning pitchers have made their season debuts over the past week after being held out with injuries to start the year. Preseason All-American Garrett Crochet started in Saturday’s win over Wright State, pitching 3.1 shutout innings while striking out six batters.

Sophomore right hander Camden Sewell made his 2020 debut in Tuesday’s midweek triumph over ETSU. The Cleveland, Tennessee native got the start and tossed three solid innings. Sewell racked up five strikeouts and allowed just one run on one hit and one walk.

Soularie Heating Up After Slow Start
Preseason All-America and All-SEC selection Alerick Soularie has started to regain last season’s form after a slow start to the year. The junior slugger was just 2-for-20 over the team’s first seven games, but has turned it around over the past 11 contests, batting .350 while leading the team with 11 runs, 14 hits, five home runs, 14 RBI and 30 total bases.

Soularie had his best game of the year in Tuesday’s midweek win over ETSU, going 3-for-5 with a pair of homers and four RBI.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!
Junior infielder Liam Spence has been one of the Vols’ most productive players so far this season. The Geelong, Australia native ranks third on the team with a .346 batting average and is third on the team with 18 hits.

Spence is coming off a productive week where he either led or tied for the team lead in batting average (.417), runs (four), hits (five) and home runs (one). His solo home run in the seventh inning was the difference in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Wright State. Spence followed that performance by tying his career high with three hits, a walk and a run scored in Sunday’s series finale. He also drove in two with a double in Tuesday’s win over ETSU.

The Aussie has been as surehanded as they come defensively while splitting time at shortstop and second base. Spence has committed just one error and leads the team with 56 assists.

Home Run Derby
UT has come out of the gates swinging this season with 31 home runs through 17 games this season, which ranks second in the nation behind Mississippi’s 32. The Vols have hit multiple home runs in 13 of their 17 games and have had 14 different players go deep this season.

Vols Rank Among the Nation’s Leaders
Tennessee enters this weekend ranked among the nation’s leaders in a handful of statistical categories. The Vols rank among the top 25 in the country in each of the following categories:

Offense

• Batting Average: .320 (5th)
• Doubles: 43 (6th)
• Hits: 193 (3rd)
• Home Runs: 31 (2nd)
• On-Base Percentage: .442 (2nd)
• Runs: 180 (1st)
• Runs/Game: 10.6 (1st)
• Slugging Percentage: .556 (2nd)
• Walks: 124 (2nd)

Pitching/Defense

• ERA: 2.00 (5th)
• Fielding Percentage: .981 (18th)
• Hits Allowed/Nine Innings: 6.41 (16th)
• Shutouts: 3 (12th)
• Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio: 4.89 (3rd)
• WHIP: 0.94 (2nd)
• Walks Allowed/Nine Innings: 2.06 (3rd)

Opponent Scout
South Carolina Gamecocks (12-4 // 0-0 SEC)

• 2019 Record: 28-28 (8-22 SEC)
• 2019 Postseason: N/A
• Head Coach: Mark Kingston (3rd season) // Led South Carolina to the NCAA Super Regionals during his first season as head coach in 2018.
• South Carolina was picked to finish fifth in the Eastern Division of the SEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, one spot behind Tennessee.
• The Gamecocks have won five straight entering this weekend’s series following midweek wins over Furman and The Citadel and a series sweep of Cornell.
• As usual, SC ranks among the nation’s leaders in home runs, coming in at 12th with 21 bombs this season.
• Sophomore catcher Wes Clarke leads the SEC and ranks third nationally with eight homers already this season. His 22 RBI are also tied for third in the league.
• The Gamecocks have gotten solid production from their weekend rotation, as the trio of Carmen Mlodzinski, Thomas Farr and Brannon Jordan have combined to go 7-1 so far this season. All three have ERA’s of 2.84 or lower.

On Deck
The Vols return to Knoxville for a midweek matchup against Georgia State on Tuesday, March 17 before an in-state showdown against SEC rival and defending national champion Vanderbilt next weekend at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

-UT Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – SEC play is here for Tennessee who open its 24-game conference slate with a three-game series against Texas A&M this weekend in College Station, Texas.

UT (14-9) looks to jump back into the win column after closing its preseason nonconference schedule with a tightly-contested 3-2 loss to North Carolina on Tuesday night in Knoxville.

The Lady Vols open against the Aggies on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Saturday’s game is slated for 3 p.m., and Sunday’s getaway-day game is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Broadcast Info
The series will be streamed live on WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app.
Fans can also listen to the action on UTSports.com, the UT Gameday app and on WNML AM 990 in Knoxville with Brian Rice on the call.

Quick Hits
Double Down
Tennessee has recorded 17 double plays so far this season, with a single-game season high three against USF on Feb. 22 that ties for a program record. The achievement has only occurred on three occasions, the last time coming at Virginia Tech in 2015. The only other time a UT team had three double plays was in 1998 versus Kansas. The Lady Vols’ 0.73 double plays per game leads the SEC and ranks third in the nation.

Seggern Takes ‘Em for the Team
Senior Chelsea Seggern quickly jumped into another top-10 category early in the season, albeit a painful one. Recording nine hit-by-pitches so far, Seggern ranks seventh all-time in UT history after being pegged at the plate 28 times since she joined the Lady Vols family in 2017. The Thrall, Texas, native ranks second in the SEC and sixth in the nation in HBP per game (0.47). Seggern is also ranked 20th in the nations with 0.576 on base percentage.

Pitching Coming Together
Despite UT’s expected ace Ashley Rogers temporarily sidelined, the young pitching staff has maintained its competitiveness behind freshman starter Callie Turner, who ranks third in the SEC and 30th in the nation with eight victories. Newcomer and redshirt sophomore transfer Samantha Bender has also been reliable for the Lady Vols in the circle recording two saves so far this season, which ranks fifth in the conference and 19th in the nation. Bender has a 5-1 win-loss record on 42.0 innings pitched.

Freshmen’s First Dingers
Kiki Milloy and KK McCrary have stood out for their impressive play at the plate in the early 2020 season. Milloy who was the leadoff hitter in the 2020 lid-lifter, was the first freshman to go yard in their first collegiate at-bat for the Lady Vols since at least 2012, while McCrary was the first of the eight freshmen to go yard at Sherri Parker Lee. McCrary blasted a 2-run homer through centerfield against UT Martin on Feb. 25 to become the first freshman to record a dinger in a home opener since Meghan Gregg hit two against Northern Iowa on March 6, 2015.

Hail Tennessee
Nearly half of the Lady Vols squad is made up of in-state talent. There are nine Tennessee natives on the 2020 roster, believed to be a record for the program. Seniors Treasuary Poindexter (Covington, Tenn.) and Cailin Hannon (Franklin, Tenn.) and sophomores Kaili Phillips (Ooltewah, Tenn.) and Ashley Rogers (Athens, Tenn.) are joined by freshmen Anna Fox (Columbia, Tenn.), KK McCrary (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), Josie Willingham (Medon, Tenn.), Anna Hazlewood (Martin, Tenn.) and Madison Webber (Sevierville, Tenn.).

25th Anniversary
On Feb. 23, 1996, Tennessee fielded its first softball team at the 10th Annual Louisiana Classics in Lafayette, La. A 1-0 loss to Baylor, a program that had been around since 1979, marked the beginning of what would become one of the Vols and Lady Vols premier athletic programs. The Lady Vols bounced back the following day to pick up the program’s first win, a 5-4 victory over the Bears and eventually took the series in a rubber match on Feb. 25, a 9-8, eight-inning victory. Fast forward to 2020 and 1,124 wins later, the Orange and White opened the programs 25th year in extant with a 6-3 win against Northwestern in Tempe, Ariz.

All-American Homecoming
In late January, Tennessee announced that it would host the U.S. Women’s National Team as part of Team USA’s “Stand Beside Her” Tour – a nationwide tour where the Red, White and Blue will face top Division I collegiate teams in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. On April 8, the Lady Vols face off against the WNT at Sherri Parker Lee and will welcome back Tennessee great Monica Abbott, a four-time All-American (2004-07), three-time SEC Pitcher of the Year (2004, 05, 07), USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year trophy winner and NCAA/UT program record holder. Tickets for the event are currently sold out, but the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Scouting Report
Texas A&M
2020 record: 16-9, 1-2 SEC
Series: 15-5
Last meeting: The 11th-ranked Lady Vols fell 6-4 to the Aggies on Cinco de Mayo (5/5/19) in Knoxville
Key players/stats: The Aggies have given up 98 runs this season and average 5.64 runs per game. The lead off hitter Makinzy Herzog is hitting a .418 clip and has score 28 runs. She plays a dual role as a pitcher and has collected three wins in the circle. and has a 0.82 ERA.

-UT Athletics

REGARDING WEDNESDAY ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE

“These are difficult circumstances to navigate, and we understand and support the conference’s decisions related to upcoming athletic events. From an institutional standpoint, we’ll continue to rely on the advice and expertise of public health authorities and the university’s Office of Emergency Management as we approach the coming days and weeks with the health of our student-athletes, staff and campus community at the forefront of our decision making.

SEC’s statement

-UT Athletics