Kentucky Baseball: Cats get the weekend sweep, go to 7-1 on the year

Kentucky fresh off an impressive opening weekend had a week of home games to try and keep the hot start rolling. Other than one bump in the road they were able to do just that going 3-1 in the week.

The Cats home opener was Tuesday night again Xavier in front of a record setting crowd at The Cliff with 4,118 in attendance.

This wasn’t a game filled with a lot of runs but rather a defensive battle. Xavier got the scoring started in the first with a 2 RBI single to right putting the Cats in an early 2-0 hole.

The Cats were able to get on the board in the 3^rd as Ben Aklinski hit a SAC Fly allowing Trey Dawson to come across to score. Neither team was able to get much going, but in the 6^th the Cats struck again to tie it at 2 off a homerun by T.J Collett.

The game would end up going to extra innings but unfortunately it was Xavier that took the lead in the 10^th and went on to give the Cats their first loss of the season 3-2.

The weekend series was at home against a struggling Oakland team and the Cats made a statement.

In game 1 Friday night, the Cats started their scoring in the second as Ryan Shinn, Alex Rodriguez, Troy Squires, Ben Aklinski, and T.J Collett all drove in runs to give the Cats an early 5-0 lead.

Squires was back up in the third and had a 2 RBI single to center putting the Cats up 7-0. However, he was caught trying to steal 2^nd but that allowed Trey Dawson to come across to score extending the Wildcats lead.

The Cats tacked on 2 more in the 6^th off a homerun by Collett and an RBI single by Ryan Johnson as the Cats get the win 10-1. Winning pitcher was Sean Hjelle.

Game 2 was Saturday and it was an even bigger offensive showing by the Cats. Kentucky got the scoring started in the 2^nd with an RBI single by Shinn 1-0 Cats.

The Cats added 3 more runs in the 3^rd as Collett went yard yet again pushing the Cats out to a 4-1 lead.

The bats stayed red hot in the 4^th as the Cats poured in 5 more runs and were able to blow this one wide open. Kentucky finished their scoring in the 7^th as Kole Cottam homered to plate 3 and the Cats were able to go on to win the game 17-6 and lock up the series win. Winning pitcher was Zack Thompson.

Kentucky went for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon but found themselves in an early deficit as Oakland took a 2-0 lead in the 1^st.

However, that lead didn’t last very long as in the 2^nd the Cats caught fire. Troy Squires singled to right to plate 2 and tie up the game, but the Cats didn’t stop there.

Aklinski hit a SAC Fly to give the Cats the lead then back to back 2 run homeruns by T.J Collett and Ryan Johnson open this one up and give the Cats a 7-2 lead.

In the 3^rd, Collett showed he can get the job done in other ways then just going yard. He singled up the middle to plate Squires and the Cats took a 10-2 lead in the 4^th off a 2-run bomb by Luke Heyer.

The Cats had another big inning in the 6^th as they were able to score 5 more runs. Oakland never gave up, but it was the Cats that swept the series with a 15-6 win. Winning pitcher was Justin Lewis.

The Cats will have a game Tuesday night against Western Kentucky before heading to Houston to play in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic. The Cats will face Houston on Friday, Sam Houston State on Saturday, and Louisiana Lafayette on Sunday.