South Carolina baseball can’t complete sweep, drops Sunday game to Kentucky
South Carolina baseball came up just short of completing a series sweep on Sunday.
Interim head coach Monte Lee and the Gamecocks lost 9-5 to Kentucky at home in Founders Park. Had the Gamecocks won the game it would’ve been their third series sweep of the season and second in their last three SEC series.
South Carolina had control of the game for most of the afternoon until the Wildcats rallied late.
While South Carolina might not have secured the sweep it will still walk away with a series win. The Gamecocks beat Kentucky on Friday and Saturday. The Gamecocks did, however, drop back to below .500 with Sunday’s loss and are now 22-23 (7-14 SEC) on the season.
“We didn’t play our best baseball game,” Lee said. “We put ourselves in a position to win with six outs to go. We just didn’t get it done at the end of the game. A good weekend, would have been a great weekend if we could have held on and won that game. And that’s certainly disappointing.”
Short outing for Valentin
South Carolina’s starting pitcher Alex Valentin’s time on the mound Sunday was minimal.
The junior got off to a relatively tough start in the first inning. Kentucky’s leadoff hitter, Jayce Tharnish, homered on the second pitch of the game. Then Valentin plunked the following batter with the very next pitch, giving Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell a free base.
Although Kentucky jumped out to an early 1-0 lead it looked like Valentin was going to be able to recover. He ended the inning by retiring the next three batters.
The positive momentum was short-lived though. Valentin hit a batter, gave up two hits, two RBI and walked a batter to start the third inning. Lee took Valentin out before South Carolina was able to record an out in the frame.
By the time Parker Marlatt got the Gamecocks out of the jam Kentucky led 4-0. Valentin’s day ended after two innings and 40 total pitches that saw him give up four earned runs and three hits.
Gamecocks find a spark on offense
The Gamecocks combined for 19 runs and 20 hits in the first two games of the series. But that offensive momentum took a moment to show continue into Sunday’s game.
South Carolina was no-hit for the first three innings of the game by Kentucky’s starting pitcher Connor Mattison. The junior retired the first nine batters he saw in order and also recorded five early strikeouts.
South Carolina finally got to Mattison in the fourth inning. Talmadge LeCroy got the Gamecocks first hit and a few pitches later Ethan Lizama cut Kentucky’s lead to 4-2 after blasting a two-run homer over the right-field wall.
“Really proud of how our guys bounced back there in the middle of the middle of the game,” Lee said. “...I was proud of how we fought. How we started, it didn’t go well, but we fought our way back into it, and we took the lead.”
The Gamecocks added on more runs after a two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth inning. LeCroy came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and reached first after Kentucky’s left fielder dropped a routine line drive hit by LeCroy. The blunder allowed two Gamecocks to score and tied the game at 4-4. Mattison was taken out of the game after.
Kentucky’s next pitcher, Jackson Soucie, only saw two batters before he was pulled from the game. Soucie walked Lizama then lost a 10-pitch battle with USC’s Dawson Harman, who drew a walk with the bases loaded and gave South Carolina a 5-4 lead.
Kentucky steals the game late
The Gamecock bullpen did its job for a solid four-inning stretch but Kentucky’s offense was able to break through late in the game. A combination of Marlatt, Cooper Parks and Alex Philpott kept Kentucky scoreless and allowed just one hit from the fourth to the seventh inning. Eventually, the Wildcats got to Philpott in the top of the eighth inning.
Philpott hit the first batter in the inning then Kentucky right fielder Braxton Van Cleave tied the game up with an RBI single. Van Cleave stole second a batter later and wound up scoring after a pair of errors from LeCroy and USC centerfielder Aaron Jamison. Kentucky third baseman Caeden Cloud gave Kentucky a 7-5 lead after hitting a solo home run with two outs.
Lee said most of the blame should be placed on the positioning of his infielders (decisions he said were made my him) and not how Philpott pitched.
“I felt bad for (Philpott) in that regard, because I didn’t help him. Quite honestly, I didn’t think it was his fault necessarily,” Lee said. “...I feel like I let him down by making the decision to move (USC shortstop KJ Scobey) over, but I was also anticipating (Van Cleave) pulling the ball, because he had pulled everything.”
South Carolina had a chance to tie the game up in the bottom of the eighth but left two runners stranded. The Gamecocks stalled on offense in general to end the game, recording just two hits in the final four innings. USC’s strikeout problem reared its ugly head again on Sunday. The Gamecocks struck out 16 times as a team.
Kentucky added on two insurance runs in the top of the ninth, extending its lead to 9-5 and effectively ending the game.
South Carolina baseball’s upcoming schedule
- Tuesday, April 28 at 6:30 p.m. vs. The Citadel (SEC Network+)
- Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. at LSU (SEC Network+)
- Saturday, May 2 at 7 p.m. at LSU (SEC Network+)
- Sunday, May 3 at 3 p.m. at LSU (SEC Network+)
This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 6:28 PM.
