FOUNDERS PARK: Fireworks were not on the schedule for Founders Park Friday night, but South Carolina’s hitters fired off four rockets over the final two innings to stun Kentucky 6-5 in ten innings in the opener of their three game series. Blake Jackson launched the ultimate shot, a two-run opposite field fly ball that just carried over the left field wall for the Gamecocks first walk-off home run since 2019.
For eight innings, the game was locked down by the pitching on both sides. Each scored a run in the third, and that was it until the top of the ninth. The Wildcats loaded the bases with no outs and followed up with a two run single and a sacrifice bunt for a third run.
Going to the bottom of the ninth trailing 4-1 and facing one of the nation’s premier closers in Johnny Hummel, who came to the mound with five saves and a 1.25 ERA, the odds for a comeback for the Gamecocks were not good. But Jackson, pinch-hitter Dalton Reeves and pinch-hitter Gavin Casas paid Hummel no respect. Each took him deep, and the three solo homers tied the game at 4-4 to force extras.
Kentucky came right back in the tenth scoring a two-out run on a single through the right side off of Chris Veach. That set the stage for the Gamecocks to get back off the mat for a second time. Kevin Jones walked with one out, and Jackson then clubbed his game winner on the second pitch he saw as the Gamecocks snapped a four game losing streak to the Wildcats.
Jackson had three hits and three RBIs on the night and raised his batting average to .306.
Roman Kimball pitched the first three innings for USC and allowed one run on two hits. Ty Good followed with five innings of work and 80 pitches. He tavem up two runs on two hits. Garrett Gainey and Veach followed with Veach earning his third win in four decisions.
The 19th ranked Gamecocks are now 28-13 and 10-9 in the SEC. The Wildcats 32-8 and 15-4. The win was the first this season by the Gamecocks when trailing after eight innings. They were 0-13 coming in. They are now 7-5 in one run games this season.
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