Kentucky evens series against No. 2 Arkansas with 11-3 win
In the series opener on Friday, the second-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks ran circles around Kentucky. But in game two, the Bluegrass team wasn’t going to lose on Derby Day — and especially not at Kentucky Proud Park.
On Saturday, the No. 8 Wildcats (34-10; 17-6 SEC) exacted revenge on No. 2 Arkansas, cruising to the win by a final score of 11-3. It was a near mirror-opposite finish to Friday’s game, which saw the Razorbacks trot all over the ‘Cats to the tune of a 10-3 victory.
Sunday’s rubber match is set for 1:00 p.m. EST on the SEC Network+ back at Kentucky Proud Park.
Kentucky’s bullpen struggled in Friday’s opener, but with graduate student Dominic Niman on the mound in game two, extra arms weren’t as necessary. The lefty threw for 5.1 innings, allowing five hits and two runs while striking out four. Both of those runs came in the top of the second, as well.
But Kentucky poured on three runs in the bottom of that same inning — thanks to some help from the sun in the eyes of an Arkansas outfielder — to take a 3-2 lead. A scoreless third then brought us to the fourth, which saw the Bat Cats get hot once again, adding four more runs to the scoreboard.
A double from Émilien Pitre drove in Grant Smith and James McCoy, a bunt from Devin Burkes allowed Ryan Waldschmidt to come home, and a single from Nick Lopez drove in Pitre to cap off a thrilling bottom of the fourth. Just like that, Kentucky went up 7-2 and was in full control.
In the top of the sixth, Niman turned the ball over to Robert Hogan from the bullpen. Hogan quickly shut the door on a possible Arkansas scoring situation with a couple of strikeouts. He was replaced by Travis Smith in the top of the seventh, who also produced a scoreless inning. Ryan Hagenow stepped onto the mound in the top of the eight to close out the win for good.
Hagenow received some extra insurance runs from his offense in the bottom of the eighth, too. Arkansas’ pitcher hit two consecutive Kentucky batters then walked a third to load the bases. Dealing with two outs, Lopez smacked a double to the right side that drove in three Wildcats. Mitchell Daly chipped in one more before the inning came to a close, giving UK an 11-2 advantage going into the ninth.
Arkansas was able to tack on one more run in the top of the ninth, but the Wildacts’ lead was far too much to overcome. The result was an 11-3 victory and a significant series score knotted at 1-1. Niman moves to an 8-3 record on the season with the win while Kentucky improved its lead in the SEC East over Tennessee to a full game.
Sunday at KPP is going to be a big one.
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