Baseball Drops Series Finale at No. 9 Kentucky
April 8, 2018
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of South Carolina baseball team fell in the series finale against No. 9 Kentucky, 10-5, Sunday afternoon (April 8) at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Kentucky jumped on the lead right away in the top of the first on back-to-back home runs from Tristan Pompey and Troy Squires. South Carolina answered with a run in the top of the third as Carlos Cortes blasted his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot, to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Gamecocks tied the game at two in the top of the fourth as Matt Williams reached on an error, moved to second on a Riley Hogan walk, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Hunter Taylor.
The Wildcats built a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth, sending eight men to the plate as South Carolina walked three and hit one and had two wild pitches and a passed ball in the frame.
The Gamecocks scored a run in the sixth on Hogan’s RBI single and looked to have more, but Kentucky’s Trey Dawson made a great diving stop on Chris Cullen‘s hard-hit ball up the middle to save two runs.
Kentucky then scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth, three from a Luke Heyer home run. South Carolina plated two in the top of the seventh on RBI’s from Williams and Jacob Olson. Kentucky ended the scoring with a run in the bottom of the eighth.
GAMECHANGER
Chris Cullen‘s shot up the middle looked like it was going to tie the game at five in the top of the sixth, but Trey Dawson made a diving stop and threw Cullen out at first to end the inning.
KEY STAT
Carolina walked seven batters in Sunday’s contest and had four wild pitches and a passed ball.
NOTABLE
- Jonah Bride extended his hitting streak to 11 games on Sunday, just one away from his career best.
- Riley Hogan played his first game in right field this season and went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
- Carlos Cortes now has 19 career home runs after his third inning blast on Sunday.
- Eddy Demurias had four strikeouts in his three innings of relief on Sunday.
UP NEXT
South Carolina continues its road trip on Tuesday night at The Citadel. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Joe Riley Park.
