Kentucky baseball (25-16, 10-11 SEC) defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks (25-20, 5-16 SEC) 11-5 to win its second consecutive SEC series.
Ben Cleaver made his 11th start of the season for Kentucky and had a quality showing, allowing three runs on 101 pitches while striking out five batters through 5 2/3 innings pitched.
“I was just doing what I can to help the team win,” Cleaver said. “I just wanted to set the tone from pitch one.”
South Carolina kicked off the scoring in the top of the third inning when catcher Gavin Braland hit an RBI-single off of Cleaver, driving in second baseman Will Tippett, which gave the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead.
South Carolina wouldn’t hold its lead for long as Kentucky junior Luke Lawrence kickstarted the Cats’ scoring in the bottom of the third inning with a solo home run off of South Carolina’s starting pitcher Dylan Eskew.
Kentucky freshman Ryan Schwartz added onto Lawrence’s solo shot in the bottom of the fourth inning, hitting a single to left field that drove in Shaun Montoya and Devin Burkes to make it a 3-1 ballgame in favor of the Cats.
In the same inning, Kentucky freshman Tyler Bell doubled to left field, bringing home Schwartz, James McCoy and Lawrence, elevating the Cats’ lead to 6-1.
Cleaver ran into some trouble in the top of the sixth inning as the Gamecocks brought in two more runs, cutting the deficit to three. Cleaver went on to be relieved by redshirt senior Evan Byers, who pitched 1 1/3 innings and only allowed one hit.
Kentucky tacked on another run to its lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when Lawrence scored off of two throwing errors by the Gamecock defense.
In the top of the eighth inning, Jackson Nove took the bump for Kentucky and allowed South Carolina to sneak back into the contest, giving up two runs on four hits through just ⅔ innings pitched. James McCoy came on to relieve Nove when the score read 7-5 in favor of Kentucky and closed out the inning without any further damage being done.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Wildcats poured on three more runs courtesy of three different RBIs from Kyuss Gargett, Griffin Cameron and Cole Hage, pushing Kentucky’s advantage to six runs heading into the ninth inning.
McCoy stayed on the mound for the ninth inning and closed out the game, helping lift the Wildcats to their 10th SEC win of the season.
“Our guys just came out on the attack,” Kentucky Head Coach Nick Mingione said. “I was super proud of them.”
The Bat Cats are back in action on Tuesday, April 29, when they head over to Bowling Green, Kentucky to take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. First pitch for that game is set for 4 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN+.
