Cats salvage Game 3 at South Carolina, keep postseason hopes alive

Kentucky kept its postesason hopes alive Sunday with a 7-1 win at South Carolina.

The Wildcats (27-23, 10-17 SEC) enter the final week of the regular season with a key series looming against Auburn. UK is among a logjam of teams attemping to stay out of the bottom two spots in the league standings. Those two teams will not qualify for the SEC Tournament.

Mississippi State (9-18 SEC) and Missouri (8-18 SEC) currently occupy the bottom two spots in the league. (The Tigers were trailing 4-3 in the eighth inning against Florida at the time of this report.)

To stay alive, Kentucky got a well-pitched game from a committee approach. Starter Mason Hazelwood (2-2) worked the first three innings, allowing only two hits and striking out three.

From there, Ryan Hagenow, Daniel Harper, Tyler Bosma, and Tyler Guilfoil held the Gamecocks to only one run over the last six innings. Guilfoil picked up his fifth save by working the final 4.2 innings, striking out seven.

Kentucky got home runs from Chase Estep, Ryan Ritter, and Adam Fogel to highlight the day at the plate.

Will Sanders (7-3) started and took the loss for the Gamecocks. He allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk over seven innings on the mound.

South Carolina (26-24, 12-15) won the series by taking the first two games, staying two games ahead of the Cats in the league standings. The Gamecocks close the regular season next week at Florida.