South Carolina rides four long balls to Game 1 win over Kentucky

South Carolina’s Dawson Harman hit two home runs, and Ethan Lizama smashed a first-inning grand slam on Friday to power the Gamecocks’ 10-9 win over Kentucky in the series opener at Founders Park in Columbia, S.C.

KJ Scobey also homered for the Gamecocks, who not only flexed their own muscles but took one long ball away from Kentucky. Centerfielder Tyler Bak made a highlight-reel catch when he went over the wall in right-center to rob a homer from UK’s Ethan Hindle in the seventh inning.

No one knew at the time how important that would become.

South Carolina (21-22, 6-13) won despite seeing their ace, Amp Phillips, chased from the game after giving up five runs on five hits and four walks through 1.1 innings.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the Gamecocks’ bullpen was up to the task. Cooper Parks, Logan Prisco, and Zach Russell combined to hold the UK lineup down for the next 5.2 innings. At one point, Parks (4-1) retired nine batters in a row.

Kentucky 26-14 (8-11 SEC) also saw its ace struggle. Jaxon Jelkin (6-2) gave up three consecutive singles to start the game, then served up the grand slam to Lizama to put the Cats in an early 5-1 hole.

The Cats battled back to tie the game at 5-5 in the second inning, but stranded eight baserunners between the second and eighth innings as South Carolina rebuilt its lead.

South Carolina took a 10-7 lead into the ninth inning, but UK would not go down without a fight.

A Scott Campbell double pulled the Cats within 10-8 and put runners at second and third with no outs. UK’s Tagger Tyson was then hit by a pitch to load the bases.

After Tyler Cerny popped up to short, Jayce Tharnish beat out a potential double-play grounder for an RBI to make it 10-9.

Luke Lawrence reached on an error by the first baseman to bring up UK’s top hitter, Tyler Bell, with the bases loaded, but South Carolina reliever Parker Marlatt retired him on a fly ball to left field to end the game.

Kentucky stranded 12 runners on the night.

The Cats, who suffered their fourth straight loss, also allowed 10-plus runs for the fifth time in the last two weeks.

Up Next:

Game 2 is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game was originally slated for 4 ET, but the threat of storms in the Columbia area has led to it being moved up. Kentucky has yet to announce its starting pitcher for the game with right-hander Nate Harris listed as “questionable” on the injury report.

FINAL: South Carolina 10, Kentucky 9

Gamecocks take series opener in Columbia. South Carolina hit 4 HRs and took one away from the Cats, which turned out to be a huge run. pic.twitter.com/AqD6xSCHN4

— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) April 25, 2026