Mendham's single, RBI help South Carolina to win

Ontario Nationals alum David Mendham (Dorchester, Ont.) had a single and an RBI to help the University of South Carolina Gamecocks to a 9-0 win over Kentucky on Saturday. Photo: South Carolina Athletics

May 15, 2021

Official University of South Carolina Athletics News Release

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Junior Brett Kerry went the distance, striking out 10 and allowing just four hits to pitch the first complete-game shutout for the University of South Carolina baseball team in seven years as the Gamecocks defeated Kentucky, 9-0, Saturday afternoon at Kentucky Proud Park.

Kerry only needed 94 pitches to earn his fourth win of the season. It also was his first start of 2021.

Carolina gave Kerry all the runs he needed in the first on an RBI ground out from Josiah Sightler. Another RBI ground out, this one from David Mendham (Dorchester, Ont.) in the fifth, made it 2-0 Carolina. Andrew Eyster then broke the game open with a grand slam, his second of the season, to make it 6-0. Eyster drove in his fifth run with an infield single in the eighth. Braylen Wimmer ended the scoring with his second home run of the series, a two-run shot in the ninth.

Carolina used seven walks and five hit by pitches in its nine runs.

POSTGAME NOTES

-Kerry's complete-game shutout was Carolina's first since Wil Crowe did the trick against Campbell in the 2014 NCAA Columbia Regional.

-Carolina now has four grand slams this season, two of them from Eyster.

-The five hit by pitches ties a school record, set several times, the latest against College of Charleston on April 17, 2012.

-Kerry now has 75 strikeouts in 45 innings pitched this season.

UP NEXT

Carolina and Kentucky close out the three-game series on Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. first pitch. The game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.