HOOVER, Ala. — Tennessee blew the game open with a six-run third inning, weathered two three-run rallies from South Carolina, and rode a freshman lefty starter and a freshman lefty closer to an 11-6 win over the Gamecocks on Tuesday night at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. The No. 10-seeded Volunteers advanced to a Wednesday second-round date with No. 7 Arkansas. For South Carolina, seeded No. 15 and 22-35 on the season, Tuesday was the final day of 2026.
Tennessee improved to 38-19 overall and 15-15 in conference play. The Vols are scheduled to face Arkansas on Wednesday, May 20 at 5:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network — the third of four second-round games packed into a single day at the Hoover Met, the kind of nonstop bracket grind that defines what the SEC’s expanded 16-team single-elimination format demands of every program still standing.
For a 16-seed Missouri team that’s been here once already this week, or a Tennessee team chasing a top-eight finish, every game means another flight back to campus avoided. Single-elimination means no Mulligans — beat the team in front of you, or go home.
The fans showed up for it. The Vols took their place in front of a crowd that, by night three of tournament baseball at the same field, was settling into the rhythm of four-games-a-day, six-days-running baseball. Same field, same vendors, same heat, same humidity. The crowd at the Hoover Met has watched the Tigers, the Rebels, the Commodores, the Wildcats, the Volunteers, the Gamecocks, the Sooners, and the LSU Tigers all flow through the same gates and dugouts in the span of about 10 hours. By Game 3, the early-evening crowd was a mix of fans who’d been at the venue since 10:30 a.m. and fresh arrivals just stretching their legs. Some had switched colors three times during the day.
The third inning
The game looked, for a moment, like it might tilt toward Columbia. South Carolina’s Patrick Evans tripled to right-center in the top of the third, scoring Dawson Harman and Luke Yuhasz to put the Gamecocks ahead 2-2. Talmadge LeCroy followed with a sacrifice-bunt RBI that brought Evans home and gave South Carolina a 3-2 lead.
Then Tennessee answered with a six-spot in the bottom of the inning.
Trent Grindlinger started it with an RBI single through the right side, scoring Blake Grimmer to tie the game 3-3. Manny Marin singled to right, advancing to second on the throw and scoring Henry Ford to make it 4-3. Nate Eisfelder followed with a two-run double to right-center that scored Marin and Grindlinger to extend the lead to 6-3. Leadoff hitter Garrett Wright capped the inning with a two-run single through the right side that scored Eisfelder and Jay Abernathy — both runs unearned — to push the lead to 8-3.
Six runs. Three doubles in the inning between Tennessee and South Carolina. By the time the Gamecocks recorded the third out, the game was a Tennessee runaway.
Wright ties the program record
Wright finished 4-for-5 with a home run, three RBI, two runs, and a stolen base — a four-hit performance that, per Tennessee Athletics, tied the program record for the most hits by a player in an SEC Tournament game. He became the eighth player in Tennessee history to do it, and the first since Hunter Ensley had four hits in the 2024 SEC Championship game against LSU.
Wright’s solo home run to right field in the bottom of the eighth, alongside a solo blast from third baseman Henry Ford to left field one batter later, served as the exclamation point on the win.
“It’s been a bit of a grind, but you know, we still have more season left,” Wright said. “We just gotta stack good at-bats. I thought we did that pretty well tonight.”
Eight different Tennessee players recorded a hit. Beyond Wright, Ford went 3-for-4 with three RBI, a double, a home run, and a sacrifice fly. Levi Clark added two hits and an RBI while catching for the game. Grimmer also had two hits and scored twice.
Appenzeller delivers in his first SEC start
The bigger story for Tennessee’s tournament trajectory may have happened on the mound. Freshman left-hander Cam Appenzeller — the SEC All-Freshman Team selection World Baseball Network flagged as a name to know in our No. 9-12 preview — made his first start against an SEC opponent and earned the win to improve to 6-1. Across 5.0 innings, he allowed three runs on six hits and three walks, striking out five on 84 pitches.
“I was feeling pretty good. I mean, I was a little bit slow today, but I was excited to get out there and pitch,” Appenzeller said. He acknowledged he hadn’t pitched at his peak — “I don’t think it was very close to my best stuff” — but Elander pointed to the freshman’s competitive instinct.
“He’s a very humble, hardworking kid,” Elander said. “He is talking about not having his best stuff but the guy is 5-1. Maybe his ERA’s not as pretty as it was a month or two ago, but the last two games — and here tonight — he gave us a chance to win an SEC game. To be able to do that as a true freshman and grind through and just take the ball, again, he’s been amazing for us all year long.”
Fellow freshman left-hander Will Haas closed it out. The Rockford, Minnesota, native earned his first career save with 2.1 shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out six on 33 pitches — six of his seven outs recorded via the strikeout.
“I believe he hit 96 tonight for the first time since post-surgery,” Elander said of Haas. “The guy’s gonna compete. Objectively, it’s really good stuff. It’s a unique slot that’s hard to prepare for. It’s three pitches. We’re pretty fortunate to have, you know, Appy and Haas, those two young freshmen lefties that are gonna be good here for us for a while.”
That’s the kind of pitching depth that can change a tournament. Tennessee won’t have to throw Tegan Kuhns — MLB Pipeline’s No. 43 draft prospect — in their first round. Kuhns is now lined up to start against Arkansas Wednesday. As one Texas fan on r/collegebaseball noted with relief, watching the bracket implications unfold in real time: “Is Kuhns starting tomorrow? That’s good. As long as it’s not on Friday.”
South Carolina’s last day
For Monte Lee, the postgame conversation pivoted from the loss to a coaching future that remains uncertain. Lee took over the Gamecocks on an interim basis when Mark Kingston was removed during the season. He grew up 25 miles from Columbia, played and coached his way through Clemson and the College of Charleston, and was asked point-blank why he should be the next permanent head coach.
“Look, I’ve talked enough about myself,” Lee said. “I got into coaching 26 years ago to serve players and to be a good mentor, role model, coach the players to the best of my ability. Like Patrick said, I’ve always had the players back. I’ve had a lot of success as a head coach. You can look at my track record. Now that being said, the administration has to make a decision as to who they think is the best leader for the program moving forward.”
His message about how to rebuild South Carolina from here was direct.
“Whoever the next leader of this program is needs to build a program,” Lee said. “We need to get back to recruiting kids in the state of South Carolina and kids closer to home. Like a Pat Evans who will run through a brick wall for the program. We need more guys like him where it’s personal to them, the success of the program.”
Evans, the second baseman who finished 3-for-5 with three RBI including a triple in the third and a solo home run to left in the seventh, was the day’s South Carolina bright spot. His response when asked about Lee: “I would run through a brick wall for him, or at least die trying.”
Asked what the program needs to get back to the NCAA Tournament, Evans deflected: “I don’t really think that’s kind of my decision to kind of say what we need to improve on. I mean, this guy deserves a job next year and he’s our leader, man. We’re his soldiers.”
