‘Those guys have grit.’ Kentucky’s men’s tennis rallies to advance in NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky’s men’s tennis team had to dig deep for a comeback and did just that with a 4-3 victory against Northwestern in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex on Saturday.

UK did take the doubles point, but then it lost all six first sets in singles before falling behind 3-1.

Joshua Lapadat defeated Simen Bratholm 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to get Kentucky back on track. Liam Draxl evened things up with a win against Steven Forman, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Taha Baadi’s defeat of Trice Pickens, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, clinched the match as UK advanced to the round of 16 for the 13th time in program history.

“After winning the doubles, I thought we were going to come out really well (in singles), but credit to Northwestern,” head coach Cedric Kauffmann said in a report on team’s website. “I thought for 30 minutes we were in big trouble, but those guys have grit. The longer the match goes, we know we are one of the best teams in the country in the last 10 minutes.”

It was the second consecutive year that Kentucky has defeated Northwestern in the second round. UK won 4-2 last season on its way to a national runner-up finish.

Kentucky will next face Stanford in the NCAA quarterfinals Saturday in Lexington.

Men’s golf: Gator Todd, a former professional golfer and currently the associate head coach at No. 1-ranked Vanderbilt, will be the new head coach of the Kentucky men’s golf team, UK Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart announced Saturday.

“He has a championship pedigree as a player at Alabama and experience as a professional golfer. He’s had incredible success working with Coach (Scott) Limbaugh, including a season still in progress, and has been relentless on the recruiting trail,” Barnhart said. “His combination of outstanding playing and coaching career, along with his intense desire to make his home here and put UK in the national golf conversation, are a great recipe for the foundation and future of Kentucky golf.”

Todd, in his sixth season at Vanderbilt. has helped lead the Commodores to four top-10 finishes at the NCAA championships.

“This is a dream scenario for my family and me, we could not be more excited to plant our roots in Lexington,” Todd said. “I believe in this state and I believe in Kentucky golf. There is so much talent here and I believe we can build something special.”

Todd replaces Brian Craig, who resigned on April 25 after 22 seasons as the program’s head coach.

Baseball: No. 21 Kentucky claimed its first series victory over a top-five opponent in a year, doubling up No. 3 South Carolina 14-7 on Saturday at Kentucky Proud Park.

The Wildcats (32-13, 13-10 Southeastern Conference) scored in every inning but the first. On Kentucky Derby weekend last season, UK knocked off top-ranked Tennessee on the same field.

Ryan Waldschmidt and Emilien Pitre each had three hits and Jase Felker (bases loaded triple) and James McCoy (three-run home run) delivered clutch two-out hits to lead a 16-hit assault against the Gamecocks.

UK was scheduled to go for the sweep on Sunday.

Softball: Thanks to a sacrifice fly off the bat of Taylor Ebbs, Kayla Kowalik was able to slide across home plate on her senior day as she was the winning run in a walk-off as No. 23 Kentucky rallied from a run down in the seventh for a 7-6 win against No. 16 Florida at John Cropp Stadium.

The victory ended a season-long five-game losing streak for the Wildcats. The series finale was scheduled for Sunday afternoon.