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Last weekend, the Kentucky baseball team struggled on the road at Arkansas as the Cats were swept for the first time this season.
Kentucky looked to get back on track this week, and that’s exactly what they did, going 3-1 in the week and improving their record to 17-7 on the season.
They got the week started with a trip to play Xavier on the road. These teams faced off earlier in the year at the Cliff, a game that Xavier won 3-2.
Kentucky got on the board in the first inning as Troy Squires doubled to right putting the Cats up 1-0. However, in the bottom of the inning Xavier was able to tie up the game.
This game was close through the first 4 innings as the Cats were able to hold on to a narrow 5-4 lead, but starting in the 5th, Kentucky blew this one open.
With 4 runs already across and two runners on base, Luke Heyer hit a 3-run homer to right. Kole Cottam followed him up with a solo shot to center to extend the Cats lead to 13-4 after 5 innings of play.
The Cats would tack on one run in the 6th and six runs in the 7th and would go on to get a dominating win 20-4 over Xavier. The winning pitcher was Brad Schaenzer (1-1).
For they weekend Kentucky would host #9 Auburn at the Cliff for a 3-game series.
Game 1 was a very exciting night for the baseball Cats. Each team scored in the 3rd but in the 4th Kentucky got a home run from Luke Becker to take a 2-1 lead of the Tigers.
Unfortunately, in the 7th inning the Tigers plated 3 runs to take a 4-2 lead over the Cats. In the bottom of the 9th Kentucky was trying to make a comeback.
With a runner on base, Luke Heyer stepped up and hit a huge homer to right center to tie the game 4-4. Then with Zeke Lewis standing on third, a wild pitch from Auburn allowed the Cats to get another wild pitch walk-off as Lewis comes across to score and win the game 5-4. The winning pitcher was Jimmy Ramsey (1-1).
With the poor weather on Saturday, the teams would be forced to play a double header Sunday, both games being just 7 innings.
In the second game of the series the Cats tried to make a 7th inning comeback but ultimately fell a little short and lost the game by a final score of 4-3.
The third game was for the series win, and the Cats were able to bounce back after a close loss.
Auburn tied the game in the 2nd at 1 and they didn’t score again until the 7th, but it was too little too late as the Cats had already knocked in 13 runs on the Tigers capped off with a single by Troy Squires scoring Kole Cottam to get the 13th run. The Cats would win 13-3 and win the series 2-1. The winning pitcher was Justin Lewis (4-2).
This week, the Cats will face Miami Ohio on Tuesday night at home. Then the Cats will make a trip to Tuscaloosa for a weekend series against the Alabama Crimson Tide.