April 25, 2002

The University of Kentucky baseball team will play host to No. 5 South Carolina in a weekend Southeastern Conference series at Cliff Hagan Stadium. Action between the Wildcats (14-25, 3-15 SEC) and Gamecocks (31-10, 11-6 SEC) will begin on Friday, April 26 at 6 p.m. ET.

Attempting to break its season-high eight game losing streak, UK traveled to intrastate rival Louisville Wednesday only to have the game called in the top of the third inning due to severe rain and lightning above Slugger Field. Last weekend, the Cats were defeated in three consecutive comeback one-run games at Georgia.

South Carolina welcomed Palmetto State rival Clemson to Sarge Frye Field on Wednesday night and fell short in its attempt to knock off the number one team in the country as it fell at home, 4-1, in front of 6,811 fans. The Gamecocks, led by senior first baseman Yaron Peters’ team-leading .390 batting average, 15 home runs and 58 RBIs, hold a half game lead on Florida and Georgia in the SEC Eastern Division.

After going 10-2 in against the Cocks from 1996-1999, UK has since posted a 1-7 mark against USC and has been swept the previous two years in the regular season three-game series. The win over the Gamecocks in that span came in a 6-4 victory in the 2000 SEC Tournament in Birmingham, Ala. Overall, South Carolina leads the series 20-19 since first meeing UK in 1959.

Sophomore right-hander Cory Hahn (3-5, 4.76 ERA) will take the mound for UK in Friday night’s opener, while the Gamecocks will contend with sophomore left-hander David Marchbanks (7-2, 3.69 ERA).

– UK –