Palmetto Sunday: Kentucky Defeats South Carolina in Series Finale

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Chase Estep, Adam Fogel and Ryan Ritter each slammed home runs and Tyler Guilfoil locked down his fifth save with 4.2 scoreless innings as Kentucky defeated South Carolina, 7-1, at Founders Park on Sunday.
 
UK (27-23, 10-17) will enter the final Southeastern Conference series of the season in control of its own destiny in the race for the conference tournament.
 
Daniel Harris IV extended his hit streak to 11 games, the second-longest by a Cat this season, with a lined double to left field and Ritter had the first of two UK homers in the second inning with his monster shot to left field. Two batters Fogel went the opposite way for a two-run shot that gave UK a 3-0 lead it would never relinquish.
 
Things got hairy for a moment when Carolina staged a two-out rally in the fifth but Guilfoil froze two batters to strand the bases loaded and cruised from there. Estep’s team-leading 13^th homer blew things open in the eighth.
 
NOTES

• UK has scored in 291 of 296 games under Coach Nick Mingione.
• Mingione now has 170 all-time wins at UK; five behind John Cohen for third on UK list.
• UK snapped a six-game losing streak to South Carolina.
• UK is 14-34 all-time at Founders Park.
• The UK pitchers have struck out 508 in 50 games.
• Senior LHP Mason Hazelwood returned after missing one start.
  • He pitched 3.0 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out three.
• Senior RHP Daniel Harper made his 96^th career appearance, breaking a tie with Logan Salow to move into third on the school’s all-time list.
  • He has made 85 career relief appearances, good for 17^th on the Division I-A active chart.
• Junior RHP Tyler Guilfoil pitched 4.2 scoreless innings.
  • He picked up his fifth save of the season.
  • He continues to lead all SEC with a 0.86 ERA and .117 opponent average against.
  • He has struck out 50 in 31.1 SEC innings.
• Junior IF Chase Estep hit his team-leading 13^th home run.
  • He has reached base safely in 46 of the 50 games this season.
  • He has 11 multi-RBI games this season and 15 in his career.
• Senior OF Oraj Anu went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI.
  • He has seven multi-hit games this season and 25 in his career.
• Senior IF Daniel Harris IV now has an 11-game hit streak.
  • He extended his on-base streak to 14 games.

 
ON DECK
Kentucky will host Tennessee Tech in its final non-conference game of the season on Tuesday evening. First pitch is 6:30 p.m. ET on SECN+. The radio call will be on the UK Sports Network.