COLUMN: Thoughts on Kentucky's Sweep of No. 3 South Carolina

LEXINGTON, Ky. — What's the best way to cure some SEC struggles as the postseason rapidly approaches? Sweep a top-five opponent for the first time in 11 years. That should do the trick.

One has to think that Kentucky baseball's season outlook is now filled with much more hope, as it dispatched of No. 3 South Carolina in a trio of impressive wins at Kentucky Proud Park over the weekend. The sweep clears the fog that slowly crept into the brains of the Cats, who entered the bout having lost four conference series in a row.

This weekend was so massive for Kentucky for a multitude of reasons, but it possibly answered a plethora of important questions that had become burning following the crushing winless series at Vanderbilt just one week prior.

The dynamic pitching that helped keep the ship afloat is arguably the biggest story of any. Maybe head coach Nick Mingione captured lighting in a bottle by sending out former midweek arm Travis Smith to the mound in UK's 7-3 win on Friday, but it's hard to argue with six innings of four-hit, one-run baseball. Kentucky Derby jokes are burned out by this point, but the Cats just might have a new thoroughbred it can ride all the way to Hoover and beyond.

Ryan Hagenow stumbled in relief of Smith and is all of a sudden unreliable coming out of the pen, but Mason Moore has taken his place, allowing only one hit in 2.2 innings, slamming the door closed to start the series with a bang. Tyler Bosma walked four and allowed three runs in game two, but frankly, he didn't have to be sharp, as UK poured home 14 runs in a seven-run win. It was Austin Strickland that instead played a huge role on the mound.

While he gave up five hits and three runs of his own, Strickland struck out six and threw a season-high 5.0 innings of relief, keeping the pen fresh for Sunday. Luckily, the Cats didn't need a bevy of arms, as Zack Lee turned in an amazing outing. The senior right-hander struck out 12 across 6.2 innings, cementing the sweep in emphatic fashion.

Lee threw five innings of one-run ball against Vandy the outing prior and may be turning the corner on the mound at the perfect time. If he continues to eat innings and hurl that swing-and-miss sweeper, that adds a whole new variable to how pitching coach Dan Roszel and Mingione can manage games. Telling UK that it would sweep the No. 3 team without Darren Williams pitching before the season started likely would've gotten you laughed at.

As for the offense, I could spend the next 500 words writing about James McCoy. Getting a weekend like UK did out of a guy that entered it barely hitting above the Mendoza Line is absurd and is something that must be taken advantage of moving forward.

An inside-the-park home run followed by two more crucial four-baggers that put games out of reach? Call it seeing the ball well or just taking advantage of an opportunity if you want, but it could turn into so much more. McCoy was a player that was expected to contribute mightily with the bat, and once that still wasn't happening at the start of SEC play, he hit the bench and stayed there for a good bit.

Nolan McCarthy had a hot stretch in right field when he first got his chance to play more, but hadn't been producing as much as of late, so Mingione gave McCoy a shot. It resulted in a five-hit weekend.

As a team, Kentucky got back to that gritty mentality at the plate, working hellacious at-bats, racking up pitch counts and staying in the dugout for long half-innings. The Wildcats have faced some tough pitching staffs in recent weeks that haven't been as forgiving, but South Carolina cracked. It walked 16 batters across the three games to go along with some hit batsmen and overall subpar defense as UK sat in small ball heaven.

Devin Burkes working a 12-pitch AB that led to an RBI groundout on Saturday is one of those plate appearances that could be instrumental in getting his bat going before the SEC Tournament. He had three hits in the final two games. Hunter Gilliam had a three-hit day in Sunday's 9-2 win to go along with his big home run on Friday. Émilien Pitre had five hits in two games, Jase Felker amassed four hits on the weekend, including a huge three-run triple. Ryan Waldschmidt tallied five hits, three of which came on Saturday.

Contributions came up and down the order, but it's important to really take a look at the top of the order and understand just how rock-solid Jackson Gray has been as a hitter and a center fielder.

.371 batting average (9th in SEC)
.535 on-base percentage (3rd)
58 runs scored (2nd)
five triples (1st)
36 walks (12th)
20 HBP (2nd)
17 stolen bases (T-4th)
1.000 fielding percentage (T-1st)

He wiped away his subpar year at WKU in 2022, embraced the UK style of play and has reaped the rewards in a monumental way. It may not be superbly apparent, but he's the driving force to the Wildcats and has stayed steady, even when his team has gone through a rough patch.

Now looking at the weekend from a postseason perspective, the sweep all but guarantees an NCAA Tournament berth for Kentucky. It is now 33-13 (14-10 SEC), it is back to No. 1 in RPI and still has the No. 1 strength of schedule. The attention now turns from making the tournament to trying to host a Regional.

UK hasn't been a projected host in the last few weeks, as it suffered a couple-too-many losses while the schedule continues to be unforgiving. Things change with three more SEC wins, now.

If it can duck a sweep in Knoxville against Tennessee and win a home series over a top-five Florida team to close out the regular season, then the chances of KPP playing host go way up. Everything also hinges on the results of other teams pushing for hosting bids, of course.

To wrap things up, sweeping South Carolina really softens the blow that was the last few weeks for Kentucky. Dropping two games in Georgia, a pair of home games to Texas A&M and two winnable games at Vandy can all be forgiven, now that this trio of victories have spruced up the postseason résumé.

SEC baseball is truly a never-ending gauntlet.

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