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Hot-hitting and clutch pitching helped the No. 10 Kentucky Wildcats (28-13, 12-6) baseball team route the No. 8 LSU Tigers (27-14, 10-8) Sunday on a blustery day at the Cliff, 10-2.
The win clinched the series for Nick Mingione's team, their fifth in conference play and pushed the Wildcats record to 4-2 against the top ten this season. It also gives Kentucky a two-game lead atop the SEC East with just four weeks left in the regular season.
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The Cats started sending the ball over the yard during their first turn at bat in the bottom of the 1st inning. Zack Zeks liner to left field, a double, scored leadoff man Tristan Pompey. Later in the inning, with the bases full, Luke Becker drove in two with a double of his own. Marcus Carson finished the 4-0 rally when his ground out opened space for Riley Mahan to run home.
LSU answered their next time up thanks to a Josh Smith RBI single to cut the lead to 4-1. The damage could have been worse since a few errant throws resulted in the Tigers loading the bases before UK starter Justin Lewis pitched his way out of the jam.
After going silent in the second inning, Kole Cottam and Riley Mahan launched back-to-back homers to stretch UK's lead to 7-1 in the third.
Cottam and Mahan struck again in the bottom of the next frame. A Cottam double to the outfield netted a run, and then Mahan earned himself another RBI with a single. Kentucky got an unearned run later in the inning when Cottam trotted home courtesy of a failed fielder's choice.
Mahan finished the day 3-of-4 with a homerun and two RBIs. He also scored two runs. The junior was spectacular at the plate during the entire series and finished it 9-of-12 with six runs driven in.
Cottam finished 2-of-5 with three runs knocked in. Tristan Pompey, Evan White, and Zack Reks also finished with multi-hit games.
Besides the jam in the second inning and a solo homer he gave up in the sixth, freshman Justin Lewis (6-2) hurled a dandy against the Tigers. He limited the Bayou Bengals to six hits with only one earned run and a single walk. Lewis struck out six in nine full innings of work.
Kentucky takes to the diamond again Wednesday night at home against the Xavier Musketeers at 7:00 P.M.