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baseball Edit

Carolina sweeps Cats

Kentucky's Austin Schultz stole second base during Sunday's series finale at Kentucky Proud Park.
Kentucky's Austin Schultz stole second base during Sunday's series finale at Kentucky Proud Park. (Eddie Justice/UK Athletics)

Kentucky finds itself in a precarious position with four regular-season games remaining after the Wildcats were swept this weekend by South Carolina.

The No. 20 Gamecocks capped the three-game sweep at Kentucky Proud Park with an 11-6 win on Sunday.

The three losses may have doomed UK's chances of making the NCAA Tournament as the Cats (27-20, 11-16 SEC) have only a mid-week matchup with Tennessee Tech and a three-game series at defending national champion Vanderbilt remaining before entering the SEC Tournament as a heavy underdog to almost the entire field.

Most NCAA baseball observers believed that Kentucky would need at least 14 league wins to be in consideration for a spot in the national field. The Cats have won only two of their last nine games against SEC opponents.

On Sunday, South Carolina (31-18, 15-12 SEC) proved to have too much pitching and hitting for UK. Andrew Eyster continued his big weekend with a 4-for-5 day at the plate and four RBI. The senior right-fielder had eight hits and drove in nine runs for the Gamecocks in the series.

South Carolina also got two hits and home run from junior left-fielder Josiah Sightler in the series finale.

Junior right-hander Thomas Farr (3-5) earned the win for the Gamecocks, working 5.2 innings and allowing only two earned runs on seven hits and a walk.

Kentucky's pitching staff surrendered 32 runs in the three games. It marked the seventh time this season that the Cats have allowed 10 or more runs to an SEC opponent.

Zack Lee (4-5) started and took the loss on Sunday, allowing six runs on six hits and two walks over 3.2 innings of work.

Austin Schultz, Ryan Ritter, and Zeke Lewis each had two hits for UK. Cam Hill added an RBI triple for the Cats, who left 10 runners stranded on the day.

Kentucky plays host to Tennessee Tech on Tuesday at KPP. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network Plus.'


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