Kentucky Baseball Takes Rainy Game One Over Missouri

Kentucky Baseball welcomed the Missouri Tigers to Lexington Friday night for game one of their weekend series. The Wildcats, led by big performances from Hunter Gilliam and Ryan Waldschmidt, downed the Tigers 12-2 in seven innings to start the weekend off with a win. Gilly and Waldy combined for eight of the 10 Wildcats’ RBI on the night.

Starting on the mound for the ‘Cats was seventh-year slinger Darren Williams, who made his third start of the season. Williams had himself a bizarre afternoon. Entering Friday night’s affair, Williams had plunked just four batters over his two-year Kentucky career. There must have been something in the air, as Williams hit four Tigers in his five innings on the mound. D-Will finished with one of the strangest pitching lines you’ll ever see, as he allowed just two hits, two runs, struck out five and hit four hit batters on 100 pitches thrown.

Exciting First Inning

This one got off to an exciting start. Missouri took an early lead, which has been a good omen for them so far this season. In games where the Tigers have scored first, they were 17-0 coming into Friday night. Darren Williams, who started in place of Logan Martin (who is still battling the injury bug), got off to a bit of a rocky start. D-Will got his day started with a strikeout of Mizzou stud Luke Mann, but began to struggle after that. Williams plunked Wilmsmeyer, gave up a single to Bargo, and walked Austin to load the bases for Mizzou’s RBI leader Hank Zeisler. D-Will plunked Zeisler (his second of the inning) and allowed Wilmsmeyer to trot home for the easy score.

After falling behind 1-0, the resilient ‘Cats scored five unanswered runs to take the lead in the bottom of the first. Jase Felker got the Wildcat blood pumping with an inning-opening walk, followed by a Devin Burkes single. Émilien Pitre was then plunked, loading the bases for “The Captain” Hunter Gilliam. Gilliam, who is riding an 18-game hitting streak, hit a soft liner into left field to score both Felker and Burkes. With this hit, Gilly extended his hitting streak to 19 games and on-base streak to 25 games (in every game he’s been active for).

With runners on first and second, Ryan Waldschmidt stepped up to bat. Waldschmidt smoked his third home run of the season, bringing in three more runs for the ‘Cats. Waldy’s bomb went 457 feet at 109 mph. Big-time jack for the sophomore transfer from Charleston Southern.

THIS. ONE. IS. NOT. COMING. BACK.@ryanwaldy21 with a three-run #BigBlueBomb and it's 5-1 UK in the 1st!

💻 https://t.co/NZ1lmmrmy9 pic.twitter.com/qAgXZM5HBn

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) March 31, 2023

‘Cats Pull Away in Fifth Inning

After an exciting first inning, the offense dried up for both teams. After combining for four hits in the first, the ‘Cats and Tigers combined for just two over the next three innings. The Tigers began to crawl their way back into this one in the top of the fifth inning. Luke Mann finally made his impression, kicking off the inning with a double. Mann advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a sac fly.

After having their lead decreased to just three runs, the Bat ‘Cats put the Tigers in the dirt with a two-run bottom of the inning. After Devin Burkes reached first on a single and was thrown out trying to steal second, Émilien Pitre doubled to left center. Burkes’ steal was overturned, so a run was wiped off of the board there. With Pitre on second, Hunter Gilliam launched a home run to the Kentucky bullpen, giving Kentucky a 7-2 lead. With his two-hit, four-RBI performance on Friday night, Gilly is now tied for ninth place in all of college baseball with 39 RBI.

Hunter Gilliam. Destroyer of Baseballs™️

Two-run #BigBlueBombfor @CaptGIlliam!

B5 | UK 7. MIZZ 2 pic.twitter.com/aCBeX4nu9q

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) April 1, 2023

Sixth Inning Buries the Tigers

Leading 7-2 through six, the ‘Cats finally put the nail in the Mizzou coffin. With a bit of luck to begin the inning, Jackson Gray reached first on a dropped third strike that rolled all the way to the backstop. Followed by Jase Felker and Devin Burkes walks, the bases were loaded for Pitre. Pitre ripped a single to left field, scoring both Gray and Felker to push the lead to seven. Thanks to a Ryan Waldschmidt sac-fly, Burkes trotted home to make it a 10-2 ballgame.

Grant Smith kicked off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double, putting runners on first and second after Jackson Gray was plunked. Jase Felker stepped up and belted a game-ending, two-run double to left center, ending this game in seven innings. Strong, strong performance for the Wildcats. The Bat ‘Cats have now won 19 of their last 20 games.

Game two of this weekend’s Kentucky-Missouri series will begin Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The Wildcats will look for their third consecutive SEC series victory with a win.