UK drops South Carolina series opener, loses fourth straight

By Christian Cevallos

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UK starting pitcher Kelsey Nunley gave up five runs in the first inning en route to  a 6-4 loss to South Carolina in the series opener on Friday.

Nunley went five innings, giving up six runs on six hits while throwing 111 pitches. It was the third time this season she allowed at least five runs in the first inning of a game.  The junior’s earned run average now stands at 2.11 on the year.

Despite Nunley’s rough early start, head coach Rachel Lawson wasn’t so quick to blame the team’s struggles all on her ace.

“It was an overall great pitching performance,” Lawson said. “The runs allowed were the result of poor defense early on.”

After South Carolina’s five-run first inning, UK answered back with two runs of their own courtesy of a two-run home run by senior catcher Griffin Joiner. The homer was Joiner’s eighth of the season.

South Carolina junior outfielder Alaynie Page then hit a home run off of Nunley in the fourth inning to give the Gamecocks a 6-2 lead. But the Cats scored again in the fifth thanks to a Nikki Sagermann two-run blast to left centerfield to cut into UK’s deficit.

But the attempt at a comeback stopped there as the Cats did not score again, dropping their fourth straight game.

Sagermann said that even though the Cats lost, the late offense gave the team a spark.

“It lifted the spirits of the team with just one swing of the bat,” Sagermann said.

UK returns to action on Saturday when it plays a doubleheader to close the series against South Carolina. First pitch for Game 1 is set for 3:00 p.m., while Game 2 is scheduled for 5 p.m.