Lexington, (Ky.) ? Sophomore starter Kalen Gibson was sensational on Friday night, as he held the No. 6 South Carolina Gamecocks to just four hits in his first career complete game to lead Kentucky to a 6-3 victory at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The Slaughters, Ky., native allowed only one earned run and struck out nine en route to his fourth victory of the season.
?Kalen Gibson is an unbelievable competitor,? UK head coach John Cohen said. ?He?s a guy that wants the baseball in tough situations and really wants to get the job done. We?re very pleased with the performance we got from him tonight. You can build a pitching staff around a guy like him.?
Spencer Graeter provided the offense for Gibson on this night, launching a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning to put the Cats up, 4-1. Joe Naill and Michael Bertram scored ahead of Graeter on his third bomb of the year.
?Spencer has been outstanding the way he?s attacked the baseball at the plate,? Cohen said. ?We?re really pleased with the effort we got tonight from the ball club as a whole. Everyone was involved in this one.?
UK got another run in the home half of the fourth when Justin Scutchfield singled and later came around on a Bertram single. Mike Breyman hit his fourth blast of the season in the bottom of the eighth to provide another insurance run.
South Carolina cut the Kentucky lead to 4-3 in the sixth, taking advantage of a Wildcat error. Bryan Triplett reached base on the error and, with two outs, scored in front of Landon Powell on Powell?s 11th home run of the season.
The Gamecocks brought the tying run to the plate twice in the top of the ninth, but Gibson bowed his back and struck Michael Campbell out before inducing a game-ending fly ball from pinch hitter Hank Parks.
Bertram and Naill had two hits each for UK, which saw eight of its nine starters record at least one hit. Powell had two of Carolina?s four hits. SC starter Billy Buckner (4-2) was saddled with the loss, allowing five runs in six innings.
The two teams continue their three-game set on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ET). Seth Stanley (5-1) will go to the mound for Kentucky, where he will be opposed by Matt Campbell (5-1). The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a free mouse pad, complements of Fifth Third Bank.
?We have to come back tomorrow and repeat this performance,? Cohen said. ?Seth Stanley is another tough kid. Hopefully tomorrow he?ll keep the ball down in the strike zone, get a lot of ground balls, and we?ll win a series.?
All the action can be heard live on 96.1 FM in Lexington with Drew Deener providing the play-by-play. Live audio and stats are available at www.ukathletics.com, as well as live video on the web site?s ?Extreme Access.?
— UK —
