Kentucky baseball stays alive in NCAA Tournament with a win over USC Upstate
Kentucky baseball snapped a five-game losing streak to keep its season alive with a 7-3 win over South Carolina Upstate in an NCAA Tournament elimination game in the Clemson regional Saturday.
The Wildcats had been swept in their final regular-season series, lost their only game in the SEC Tournament and fallen in the NCAA Tournament opener against West Virginia on Friday. Three of those losses, including the West Virginia defeat, had come in walk-off fashion.
Nick Mignione’s Wildcats showed impressive resolve to stall that momentum even after USC Upstate rallied from an early three-run deficit to tie Saturday’s game. Kentucky must now win three games in two days to advance to a super regional for the third consecutive season.
KEY MOMENT
Kentucky’s trademark brand of small ball was on full display in scoring the eventual winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning. First baseman James McCoy walked with one out then stole second base and moved to third base on a wild pitch. Third baseman Patrick Herrera then drove him home with a squeeze bunt, giving the Wildcats a run without a hit for a 4-3 lead.
AT THE PLATE
Kentucky, playing without star freshman shortstop Tyler Bell for the first time this season after he fouled a ball off his knee Friday, opened the scoring with a two-out rally in the first inning.
Left fielder Cole Hage reached on a hit-by-pitch and moved to third on a McCoy single. Both runners then scored on a three-run opposite field home run from center fielder Carson Hansen.
After regaining the lead in the sixth inning, Kentucky blew the game open in the bottom of the eighth on a bases-loaded single from designated hitter Hudson Brown. Hage had driven in a run earlier in the inning.
Second baseman Luke Lawrence, batting leadoff in place of Bell, was 3-for-4 with one run scored. McCoy went 2 for 2 with one walk and two runs scored.
ON THE MOUND
Kentucky starter Nic McCay cruised through the first three innings before loading the bases without recording and out in the top of the fourth. USC Upstate catcher Preston Lucas drove two runs home with a one-out double. Second baseman Gage Griggs then tied the game at three with a sacrifice fly.
Right-handed pitcher Ethan Walker, who has served as a piggyback reliever behind McCay for much of the season, then gave Kentucky the type of performance for teams to survive a regional format where pitching depth is always tested. He pitched five scoreless innings, surrendering just one hit. Walker struck out seven batters and walked none.
WHAT’S NEXT
After surviving its first elimination game, Kentucky still faces an uphill climb to advance to a super regional. The Wildcats will next play the loser of Saturday night’s game between regional No. 1 seed Clemson and No. 2 seed West Virginia on Sunday at noon. If Kentucky can win that game, it would face the winner of the Saturday night game on Sunday at 6 p.m. The Wildcats would need to win twice on Sunday to force a winner-take-all game for the regional on Monday night.
The good news is that by using just two pitchers in the win over USC Upstate, Kentucky at least has a more viable path to navigating three more games with its pitching staff. Freshman left-handed pitcher Nate Harris, UK’s normal Friday night starter, and senior right-handed pitcher Scott Rouse, the Wildcats’ usual midweek starter, should be available for the Sunday games. Kentucky will almost certainly need multiple innings from left-handed reliever Jackson Nove, who faced one batter in the regional-opening loss to West Virginia, at some point to advance as well.
