No. 4 Kentucky baseball (33-8 16-4 SEC) held off No. 24 South Carolina (28-14 10-10 SEC) in a 15-13 win on Saturday.
With the win, the Bat Cats snapped a three-game conference losing streak.
The Wildcats grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a Grant Smith infield single that scored Ryan Waldschmidt.
Dominic Niman took the hill in the first and gave up a leadoff single to Austin Brinling before striking out Ethan Petry for the first out. Parker Noland singled before Niman got the second out with a strikeout.
Niman then hit Blake Jackson to load the bases, leading to back-to-back singles by Kennedy Jones and Gavin Casas, which gave the Gamecocks a 3-1 lead.
Things continued to unravel for Niman as he hit Talmadge LeCroy to reload the bases, leading to Dalton Reeves and Brinling hitting singles that plated three more and gave the Gamecocks a 6-1 lead after one inning.
Devin Burkes got a run back for the Wildcats on a double to right center-field, which scored Ryan Nicholson and made the score 6-2.
Cooper Robinson relieved Niman in the second and pitched two critical scoreless innings which kept the score where it stood.
Mitchell Daly and Nicholson hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the fourth to trim the deficit to 6-4 and, later in the inning with the bases loaded, Smith singled to bring home James McCoy and Waldschmidt to tie the game.
The Wildcats then took a 7-6 lead after Smith distracted the defense by falling down in between first and second, allowing Émilien Pitre to steal home.
With one out in the fifth, Nicholson hit his second home run in as many innings to add to the Bat Cats’ lead.
After Nolan McCarthy struck out, McCoy homered over the right field wall. Also in the fifth, Smith drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home Burkes.
Nick Lopez capped off the Wildcats’ five-run fifth with a single that scored Waldschmidt and Pitre, which made the score 12-6 Kentucky.
The Gamecocks responded to the Wildcats’ 11 unanswered runs with a Messina three-run home run in the sixth that cut the lead to 12-9.
After both offenses were held scoreless in the seventh, South Carolina plated two in the eighth on a Nicholson error and a Jones sacrifice fly that shrunk the Wildcats’ lead to 12-11.
In the top of the ninth, the Wildcats extended their lead to 15-11 after Waldschmidt brought home McCoy on his fourth hit of the game along with a Pitre single that scored Burkes and Waldschmidt.
Jackson Nove remained on the hill to try and close out the game and got a quick out before Brinling singled. Nove then walked Petry and Noland to load the bases before hitting Messina to score Brinling.
Ryan Hagenow then relieved Nove and walked Jackson, which brought home Petry.
With the tying run on second and the winning run on first, Hagenow struck out Jones for the second out before Casas hit a ball to deep center-field that McCarthy made a game-winning leaping catch on as the Wildcats escaped with a 15-13 victory.
Among the Bat Cats’ 16 hits and four home runs, every hitter had at least one hit with Waldschmidt leading the way with four.
With the series now even, Kentucky and South Carolina will play a series-deciding game three on Sunday, April 28, with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
