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After a 2-5 road swing to open the season, the Bat Cats came home to Cliff Hagan Stadium for a one-off game with in-state rival Eastern Kentucky. UK got off to a hot start and never looked back in a 12-0 win to improve their record to 3-5.
Evan White returned to the lineup and promptly hit a homerun over the right field wall on a 2-2 count in the top of the 1st. Riley Mahan’s double later in the inning drove in two runs and put UK up 3-0.
Kentucky hung more runs on the board in the bottom of the 3rd. White came home on a walk, Zach Reks scored after a bean ball, Mahan scored on a walk, and Luke Becker advanced thanks to a wild pitch. Earlier in the inning, Marshall recorded a RBI single.
The lead stayed 8-0 until the bottom of the 7th. Evan White drove a run home with a single. The Cats tacked on three more in the 8th with the contest well out of reach.
Brad Schaenzer pitched five innings and picked up his first win of the season. He gave up four hits, walked two, and struck out five. Mark Doerries, Chris Machamer, Austin Keen, and Alec Maley all pitched an inning each. As a group they gave up two hits and no runs, thus continuing the outstanding work of UK’s bullpen.
In addition to his first homer of the season, White finished the game 3-of-4 with two RBIs. White is hitting over .700 so far this season. Mahan got two hits in four at-bats with a team-high four RBIs. Luke Becker finished 2-of-4 as well and contributed two RBIs. As a team, the Cats finished with 13 hits in 35 cumulative trips to the plate.