Kentucky baseball and softball weekly recap

Another week down for the baseball and softball Kentucky Wildcats. Both teams have been off to hot starts this season, and followed it up with another solid week. Here is how they preformed this week.

BASEBALL

Nick Mingione’s squad had a busy week, as they played 5 games in 7 days this week at Kentucky Proud Park, posting a 3-2 record to get them overall on the season to 7-2. They did, however, drop their first series this year to Ball State University this weekend losing two of the three at home.

The offense continued to stay hot, although they stuttered some against Ball State. Leading the way was Austin Schultz. In the Saturday win, Schultz went 3-4 with a double and three stolen bases on the day. Getting his season totals to .412 with four doubles, and six stolen bases. He was helped out as well by freshman Rueben Church continued to show his promise as a future star for the Cats posting another solid week.

Starting pitching had some hiccups this week, as the bullpen did as well. With only three weeks until opening weekend for SEC play, look for Mingione start to settle down on his guys out of the bullpen in close game situations, which is what bit the Cats against Ball State on Sunday. With Hagenow, Stupp, Lee, and Hazelwood, Mingione was found his guys for a typical four-game week to start on the bump.

They will be back in action this Tuesday in Lexington to take on Western Kentucky. First pitch is scheduled for 4 pm on the SEC Network + Channel.

Check out the highlights from Saturdays win over Ball state below to get a peek of how the Cats are looking for far this season.

SOFTBALL

Rachel Lawson and her squad continued their hot start to this season going to Boca Raton and continuing their winning ways to get to 19-0 on the season.

With wins against Pittsburgh, FAU, Illinois State, and Coastal Carolina the team is continuing to show that they are one of the most dominating offensive teams in the SEC. On top of that they are also proving to have one of the best pitching staffs in what is a stacked league at that position.

Kayla Kowalik, Lauren Johnson, and Erin Coffel continue to lead the team at the plate. Giving Coach Lawson a big three headed monster to mix in her lineup for the rest of this season.

They aren't short of some excitement though as Renee Abernathy walked off the game against Illinois State for her second walk off hit in the last two weekends.

Ranked as the 10th best team in the country they are really starting to creep into the conversation as a real contender for this season. With a couple of strong SEC matchups coming up in the next few weeks, including Alabama coming to Lexington, the real test has yet to come.

The Softball team will return to action next Friday in Gainesville as they take on Florida for their first series in SEC play.