May 3, 2001

The University of Kentucky baseball team will travel to Columbia, S.C., this weekend for a three-game Southeastern Conference Eastern Division showdown with the South Carolina Gamecocks. Action gets underway on Friday, May 4, at 7 p.m. EST at Sarge Frye Field.

The Wildcats are coming off of a 14-5 win over Morehead State on Tuesday. The win over MSU improved UK’s overall record to 20-29. The Wildcats are 6-18 against SEC competition.

UK will be without the services of 1B/OF Gordon Tyler, who will miss the remainder of the season with an injured lower left leg. Tyler, the Wildcats leading hitter with a .343 average, suffered the injury last Saturday against Arkansas.

With the loss of Tyler, even more pressure will fall upon the Wildcats pitching corps. Senior RHP Jon Hooker and sophomore RHP Scott Wade headline the UK pitching staff. Hooker leads the Cats with four saves and a 2.84 ERA, while Wade, the Cats’ most consistent starter throughout the season, leads the club with 82 1/3 innings pitched and is second with a 3.28 ERA.

USC enters the weekend series with an overall record of 36-14, 12-12 in the SEC. Pitching is the strength of the Gamecocks, and USC’s team ERA stands at 3.38, tops in the SEC The Gamecocks boast senior RHP Kip Bouknight, the 2000 National Player of the Year and a two-time All-American, who leads the USC staff with 81 innings logged and 72 strikeouts.

UK leads the all-time series with USC by a 19-17 margin. The Wildcats and Gamecocks met five times last season, with USC taking four of the five contests. UK’s lone win came in the opening round of the 2000 SEC Tournament. However, USC got even with the Cats, ending their season in the double-elimination tournament. UK fared well on its last trip to Columbia in 1999, sweeping the Gamecocks 3-0.