The Wildcats win 9-2, sweep No. 3 South Carolina
LEXINGTON – May 7, 2023
Kentucky hit the trifecta on Derby weekend, earning its first sweep of a Top 5 opponent in 11 years by dispatching No. 3 South Carolina 9-2 on Sunday afternoon at Kentucky Proud Park.
The Wildcats improved to 33-13 overall, 14-10 in the Southeastern Conference and notched their third conference sweep of the season, fifth overall.
Zack Lee was masterful, striking out a career-high 12 Gamecocks in 6.2 innings. Only big leaguers Sean Hjelle and Zack Thompson have had more in a game since Nick Mingione took over as coach.
James McCoy homered for the third consecutive day, Jackson Gray continued to deliver and the Wildcats landed a steady barrage of body blows, leading at the end of every inning in the series.
NOTES
- UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his seventh season at the helm and now owns a 209-142 career record.
- UK is 37-36 in the month of May under Coach Mingione.
- Mingione now is 10-10 vs. South Carolina.
- UK is 9-7 this season vs. ranked opponents.
- UK is 4-5 versus Top 5 opponents.
- UK has scored in 344 of 351 games in Mingione’s tenure.
- UK has 14 triples this season, its most since 2007 (22).
- UK swept a Top 5 opponent for the first time since doing so against No. 2 South Carolina in 2012.
- UK swept its third SEC series.
- UK has 18 wins versus the RPI Top 50 and own the RPI’s No.1 strength of schedule.
- Outfielder Jackson Gray went 2-for-4 with two runs, to doubles, two walks and an RBI.
- He has reached base safely in 37 of 52 plate appearances.
- For the weekend he reached in 10 of 15 trips to the plate
- Outfielder James McCoy went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run.
- He homered in each game of the series.
- First Baseman Hunter Gilliam went 3-for-3 with three runs and two walks, reaching all five trips to the plate.
- Pitcher Zack Lee got the win with 6.2 innings of two-run baseball.
- He struck out 12, a new career high.
- The 12 strikeouts tie Mason Hazelwood for the third-most in a single-game in the Coach Mingione era, one off Zack Thompson and Sean Hjelle’s high of 13.
- He set a career high with 105 pitches.
ON DECK
Kentucky will take on Tennessee Tech at 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The radio call will be on the UK Sports Network (630 AM WLAP, locally) and it will be streamed on SEC Network+.
