Baseball Earns Comeback Win over Vandy to Close SEC Series

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of South Carolina baseball team scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning and Brett Kerry struck out 10 in 5.2 innings of relief in a 6-5 win over No. 2 Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon (March 21) at Hawkins Field. Carolina picked up its first win in league play and snapped a six-game losing streak in the process.
 
Vanderbilt went up 3-0 after one and added a run in the third as CJ Rodriguez drove in three of those four runs. Carolina answered back in the fourth. Brady Allen and Braylen Wimmer belted back-to-back home runs, cutting the Gamecock deficit in half. Vanderbilt went up 5-2 on a Jayson Gonzalez triple in the fourth, but Kerry would shut down the Commodore bats after that.
 
Carolina scored two in the fifth on a double play groundout and a Wimmer bunt single. Then in the eighth, Allen doubled to start the frame. Wimmer then reached on another bunt single, putting runners on the corners. Carolina loaded the bases as Josiah Sightler was hit by a pitch. The Gamecocks then scored on a pair of sacrifice flies from Wes Clarke and Andrew Eyster.
 
Allen and Wimmer had three hits apiece in the win while David Mendham was 2-for-4. Carolina outhit Vanderbilt 9-7.
 
Kerry allowed three hits and did not walk a batter in the 5.2 innings. The 10 strikeouts were two off a career high.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Julian Bosnic earned the start and struck out six in 3.1 innings of work.
• The two teams combined for 85 strikeouts in the three-game series.
• Wimmer had four hits and drove in a pair in the series.
• Kerry now has eight wins in his Carolina career with 111 strikeouts in 87.1 innings pitched.

UP NEXT
Carolina starts a five-game homestand on Tuesday night (March 23) when the Gamecocks host The Citadel. First pitch is at 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on SEC Network.