Bat Cats can't secure sweep; fall to Tennessee in series finale

Looking for their second victory of the day and a weekend sweep of Tennessee, the ‘Cats fell short by the score of 7-2 in a seven-inning contest on Saturday.

Harney dazzles in second appearance of the day

After being asked to work through the final two innings of Game two earlier in the day, Sean Harney started the final game of the series on roughly 45 minutes of rest.

“I just kind of took it like it was a long inning,” Harney said about the delay between the two games. “I rested a little, got back on my feet and stretched out and was ready for the second game.”

The wait didn’t seem to impact the graduate student at all, Harney continued his excellent performance, holding the Volunteers to one run over four innings of work. He could’ve gone further had he not already saved a game an hour previously.

“What he did right there is exactly what he did for us last year on the whole season,” Head Coach Nick Mingione said after the game. “That guy closed down a game, and then starts a game. He did what Sean Harney does, the guy was incredible.”

In all, the righty struck out five and only allowed one walk in his start, keeping one of the best offenses in the nation at bay. Harney ended the day with a 2.68 ERA for the season.

Seth Logue came in to relieve in the fifth and immediately ran into the same issue that’s plagued him all year. The sophomore had already allowed a team-leading nine home runs heading into the weekend, then proceeded to give one up in his one inning on Saturday to give Tennessee the lead again.

With multiple runners on base and one out in the sixth, Mingione called on Magdiel Cotto out of the pen. He ran into some bad luck in his appearance. A chopper to the right side of the infield bounced too high for Plastiak to get, breaking the tie, allowing two more runs to come in for the Volunteers.

Bats can’t do enough in the second game

It took until the third inning for the Wildcats to get on the board. Back-to-back doubles off the bats of Alonzo Rubalcaba and Chase Estep brought in the catcher to tie the game up at the time.

ZO!!!@AlonzoRubalcaba doubles off the CF wall to open the third and scores on @chasestep12's double!

1-1 pic.twitter.com/swNb2bLZ3a

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) May 7, 2022

Daniel Harris singled in the fifth to give Kentucky runners on the corners with nobody out. Jake Plastiak cashed in with an RBI ground out that brought in Estep to tie the game up once again.

Though they leave the weekend with somewhat of a bitter taste in their mouths, grabbing a series victory out of this weekend is absolutely massive for Kentucky moving forward. It puts them in a good position to qualify for the SEC tournament despite the troubles they’ve had this season.

“It’s just guy after guy who continues to step up,” Mingione said. “That’s what this team is about, they’re tough, they’re competitive. I’ve said it all year, I really like our team.”

We next see the ‘Cats at Kentucky Proud Park this Tuesday as they face off against a different UT, this time Tennessee Martin. The contest is set for a 6:30 p.m. EST start time and will be shown on the SEC Network+.