Baseball swept at South Carolina

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Staff Report | @KyKernelSports

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UK baseball left 25 runners on base as the Cats were swept by No. 14 South Carolina in a three-game series in Columbia, S.C.

Sunday’s loss was No. 17 UK’s ninth defeat in its past 11 games.

The teams played two games Saturday after Friday’s series opener was postponed due to inclement weather.

South Carolina (31-10, 11-7 SEC) made the most of a four-run sixth inning to take the first game of the series, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon.

A three-run home run from sophomore first baseman A.J. Reed saw the Cats take a 6-5 lead into the eighth inning of Saturday’s second game.

The Gamecocks capitalized on an error and a wild pitch in the eighth inning as they tied the game at six.

Extra innings followed and it was in the 11th inning that the Gamecocks secured a walk-off hit from designated hitter Grayson Greiner to take the second game of the set, 7-6.

The Cats took the field Sunday looking to avoid a sixth straight loss and gained the lead in the fourth inning.

Sophomore centerfielder Austin Cousino reached first on an error and then reached second on his 11th stolen base of the season.

Reed stepped up to the plate and hit a double to score Cousino and put the Cats ahead, 1-0.

That advantage was short lived, however, when a two-run home run from first baseman LB Dantzler in the bottom of the fourth saw South Carolina take a 2-1 lead.

The Gamecocks added an insurance run an inning later and that was all they needed to take the 3-1 win and hand the Cats their sixth successive defeat.

UK (24-14, 7-10 SEC) returns to Kentucky on Tuesday for a matchup with in-state rival Western Kentucky in Bowling Green. First pitch at Nick Denes Field is set for 7 p.m.