Trifecta: No. 21 Kentucky Delivers Sweep Dreams

Kentucky hit the trifecta on Derby weekend, earning its first sweep of a Top 5 opponent in 11 years by dispatching No. 3 South Carolina 9-2 on Sunday afternoon at Kentucky Proud Park.

The Wildcats improved to 33-13 overall, 14-10 in the Southeastern Conference and notched their third conference sweep of the season, fifth overall.

Zack Lee was masterful, striking out a career-high 12 Gamecocks in 6.2 innings. Only big leaguers Sean Hjelle and Zack Thompson have had more in a game since Nick Mingione took over as coach.

James McCoy homered for the third consecutive day, Jackson Gray continued to deliver and the Wildcats landed a steady barrage of body blows, leading at the end of every inning in the series.

NOTES

• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his seventh season at the helm and now owns a 209-142 career record.
  • UK is 37-36 in the month of May under Coach Mingione.
  • Mingione now is 10-10 vs. South Carolina.
• UK is 9-7 this season vs. ranked opponents.
  • UK is 4-5 versus Top 5 opponents.
• UK has scored in 344 of 351 games in Mingione’s tenure.
• UK has 14 triples this season, its most since 2007 (22).
• UK swept a Top 5 opponent for the first time since doing so against No. 2 South Carolina in 2012.
• UK swept its third SEC series.
• UK has 18 wins versus the RPI Top 50 and own the RPI’s No.1 strength of schedule.
• Outfielder Jackson Gray went 2-for-4 with two runs, to doubles, two walks and an RBI.
  • He has reached base safely in 37 of 52 plate appearances.
    • For the weekend he reached in 10 of 15 trips to the plate
  • Outfielder James McCoy went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run.
    • He homered in each game of the series.
  • First Baseman Hunter Gilliam went 3-for-3 with three runs and two walks, reaching all five trips to the plate.
  • Pitcher Zack Lee got the win with 6.2 innings of two-run baseball.
    • He struck out 12, a new career high.
    • The 12 strikeouts tie Mason Hazelwood for the third-most in a single-game in the Coach Mingione era, one off Zack Thompson and Sean Hjelle’s high of 13.
    • He set a career high with 105 pitches.

ON DECK

Kentucky will take on Tennessee Tech at 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.  The radio call will be on the UK Sports Network (630 AM WLAP, locally) and it will be streamed on SEC Network+.