Mason Moore explains what led to strong bounce back outing in Sunday's win vs. Arkansas

Mason Moore led a strong bounce back win for Kentucky over Arkansas Sunday, clinching his team-leading eighth win on the hill.

The eighth-ranked Wildcats beat the No. 2 Razorbacks 7-4 to win the rubber match and take the weekend series 2-1. Behind the arm of Moore, and some great run support, Kentucky improved to 35-10 on the season and 18-6 in the SEC.

Moore tossed five innings and gave up just two runs. With that, he allowed just three hits and had six strikeouts to earn the win.

“We all know I’m sure the last two weekends (weren’t great) and the coaches and I made some adjustments,” Moore said. “It kind of translated  over and you know, when we put up seven runs against a team like that it kind of makes it a little bit easier when you’re out there.” 

As Moore alluded to, it helped that Kentucky poured on the runs early. The Wildcats led 6-0 going into the fifth inning before Moore gave up the lone two runs of his outing.

“It makes it a lot easier just to go out there and throw it down the middle,” Moore said. “We have a great defense and I’m gonna keep trusting the guys behind me to make plays for me.”

Moore likely wanted that fifth inning back, but he did enough to set his team up for the win down the stretch.

“Being in the SEC, you’re gonna have games like that and you know, Coach is always preaching to us, you know, even if we don’t have our best, find a way to get outs,” Moore said. “And I think we did that as a team really well today.”

It was all about ball placement and a little extra speed for Moore. His bounce back start was a huge part of the win and he revealed what he worked on during the week.

“Yeah, so last week I was a little slower to home plate than I wanted to be,” Moore said. “And that kind of doesn’t work with me and (coach) and I during my bullpen, worked (getting it quicker) towards home plate, and that’s kind of what translated over and I think that’s what helped me.”

Kentucky is back in action with a non-conference game at Xavier Tuesday night. The Wildcats and Moore will return to SEC action with a road series against Florida, beginning Friday evening.