Daniel Harris shines as Kentucky Baseball grabs top-10 win at home

Sitting at third with a tied ball game in the eighth, Daniel Harris inched closer and closer to the plate as TCU’s reliever hurled a 3-2 pitch towards Alonzo Rubalcaba. The catcher barely survived, dribbling a grounder to the first basemen. Usually disastrous in this scenario, Harris knew he was running no matter what.

The Kentucky second basemen barely slipped past the tag as he scored the eventual game-winning run in a 13-11 battle over TCU.

DANNY uses the jets!!! Beats the throw home and UK leads 12-11 in the 8th!!! pic.twitter.com/QHcNrVJkOF

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) March 5, 2022

“I was really proud of Danny Harris. To lead off, he was attacking. Slams on the breaks, rolls his ankle and ends up scoring the game-winning run,” UK head coach Nick Mingione said after the game. “With the infield in he went straight attack mode and was able to do it so I was proud of him and our team’s fight.”

While the pitching was horrific for most of the night, it’s gutsy plays and wins such as this that show you the true character and grit of this team. We could be seeing something special brewing at Kentucky Proud Park.

Offensive explosion continues for the Cats

Trying to accurately gauge Kentucky’s offense has been difficult this year. They’ve been averaging over 10 runs a game but they’ve been coming against clearly inferior teams. Friday’s 13-run performance against the Horned Frogs makes it a little easier to get optimistic about this team.

The Cats put up a five-spot in the first frame against a pitcher who had been dominant all year. TCU’s starter, Austin Krob, had gone 10 innings of scoreless ball this season. That changed when Kentucky got to him with four hits in the first, leading to five runs before he could get off the mound.

“It’s about time we get some respect,” Rubalcaba jokingly muttered after the win. “Fear no one and respect everyone. Whoever comes here, it doesn’t matter what the name on the front is, we’re going to do our best.”

Jake Plastiak got it all started with an opposite-field, two-run shot over the right-field bullpen to put the Cats within one — the fourth of the season for the senior. RBI singles by Nolan McCarthy and Rubalcaba rounded out the frame to give Kentucky a 5-3 lead after one.

The first runs TCU's Austin Krob has given up this season come via @jakeplas02 hitting a two-run homer!

🎥 SECN+ pic.twitter.com/UIxiRVNCpj

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) March 4, 2022

Hunter Jump singled in the second inning before moving over to second on a wild pitch. Daniel Harris reached first by beating out an infield single. The first basemen couldn’t handle the throw cleanly and sluggishly went to go retrieve the ball, which Jump noticed and allowed him to scamper on home. Nolan McCarthy followed suit with an RBI double, his second RBI in as many innings.

Scoring stalled until the fifth inning, where Kentucky refused to let TCU enjoy themselves for even half an inning. After falling down 8-7, Kentucky responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame to take an 11-8 lead. Estep and Plastiak each recorded an RBI before Adam Fogel capped the inning with a two-run double to deep center.

“Any time you can get a quality opponent like TCU in here it’s important to get that Friday night dub and hopefully we’ll build that momentum into Saturday,” Adam Fogel said postgame.

Stupp and the bullpen struggle despite win

Okay, it may be time to start worrying about Cole Stupp. Your supposed number one starter is supposed to have the ability to tighten up against the best in the country. Especially when it’s coming in front of a home crowd. Today, Stupp was disappointing, leaving questions to his spot in the rotation going forward.

“This guy is one of our best guys, so we’re gonna keep running him out there,” Mingione said about Stupp after the game. “We believe in him and we’re going to keep running him out there… I was just happy we had his back today, because he’s had ours.”

Stupp only lasted four outs. In that span, he allowed four hits, three runs and a walk while throwing 58 pitches. His ERA now sits at 9.58 after three starts.

He was followed by Ryan Hagenow. The highly touted sophomore looked good for a while before imploding. Hagenow allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases up. He allowed an RBI single to David Bishop before being taken out without recording an out in the inning.

Daniel Harper came in to clean up and limit the damage for as much as he could. If anything, his defense is the one that let him down. Harris let an inning-ending, double-play opportunity bounce off the side of his body, allowing another run to score. In all, TCU scored a five-piece in the fifth inning and led 8-7 at the time.

Sean Harney came in the sixth and did much of the same as the previous hurlers. Up three, Harney allowed TCU to tie the game up at 11. He eventually settled down, even closing out the contest in the end.

Kentucky is back out against TCU on Saturday for the middle game of the series. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted on the SEC Network+.