Kentucky Baseball: Cats go 4-0 to sweep the week of games

It was an exciting week for the UK baseball team, as they had a home game against WKU and then headed to Houston to play in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park.

On Tuesday, the Cats hosted 5-4 WKU in what was an exciting night at the Cliff. Most of the game was a defensive battle, but WKU got on the board first in the 2^nd to take a 1-0 lead. They were able to extend that lead to 3-0 on a two-run homer in the 5^th.

Kentucky entered the bottom of the 9^th in a 3-0 hole and with their last chance to get the bats going, and that’s exactly what they did.

Ryan Johnson got the Cats on the board with a home run to right field to cut the lead to 3-1. Then with two on, Troy Squires stepped up in a big spot and singled up the middle scoring Trey Dawson and Luke Heyer to tie the game at 3-3.

A passed ball allowed Cam Hill to advance to third and then another passed ball allowed him to score the game ending and winning run as the Cats get the win 4-3. The winning pitcher was Zach Haake (1-0).

Then, it was time for the Cats to head to Houston for the weekend slate of games.

On Friday, Kentucky faced #19 Houston and put on a big showing. The Cats got the scoring started in the 2^nd with a 2-run bomb by Luke Heyer to left field. The inning continued as Ben Aklinski doubled to right center scoring three more runs to take an early 5-0 lead.

The Cats scored two more in the 3^rd on a 2-run homer by Ryan Johnson and added another three runs in the 4^th to give the Cats a commanding 10-1 lead.

The Cats would go on to score two more runs in the 5^th and two more in the 7^th as the Cats get a win over one of the top teams in the country 14-2. Winning pitcher was Sean Hjelle (3-0).

The weekend wouldn’t get any easier, because on Saturday, the Cats had to face #20 Sam Houston State.

Kentucky got on the board first in the 2^nd as Luke Heyer hit a 2-run homer to left field. For the next couple of innings, the game was all about the defense until the 5^th when Kentucky added another run off the RBI single by Ben Aklinski, 3-0 Cats.

TJ Collett joined Heyer in the home run department with a 2-run shot of his own in the 7^th giving the Cats a 5-0 lead. Sam Houston State was able to get on the board in the 8^th, but the Cats tacked on two more in the inning and would go on to win the game 7-2. The winning pitcher was Zack Thompson (2-0).

On Sunday, the Cats faced Louisiana who got on the board first in the 2^nd to take a 1-0 lead. However, the Cats counter with a 2-run triple by Ryan Shinn to give the Cats a 2-1 lead.

Louisiana did a good job of not allowing the Cats to extend the lead at times when the Cats threatened and then took a 3-2 lead in the 6^th.

In the bottom of the 6^th, TJ Collett tied up the game with a home run to right field. With Heyer on Ryan Johnson gets an RBI single up the middle to give the Cats the lead as they would score two more in the inning to take a 6-3 lead to the 7^th.

In the top of the 7^th, the Cajuns were able to get into the Cats bullpen when they scored a run to cut the lead to 6-4. But the Cats get the run back as Zack Lewis steps up and gets an RBI single to make it 7-4 Cats.

Kentucky would go on to add three more runs in the 8^th and close it out in the 9^th as Kentucky gets the win 10-4 and improve to 11-1 on the season. The winning pitcher was Justin Lewis (3-0).

This week the Cats will face Eastern Kentucky at home on Tuesday night and Northern Kentucky on Wednesday night before they get ready for the three-game weekend series at home against Texas Tech.