Recap: No. 13 Kentucky Baseball Drops 2-1 Pitcher's Duel to Alabama

Kyle Cody, via UK Athletics

The first conference sweep of 2016 just wasn't in the cards for Gary Henderson and his No. 13 Kentucky Baseball team (22-9, 8-4) at Cliff Hagan stadium today. In a game that saw a couple of dominant starting pitchers duke it out on the mound, the Batcats fell 2-1 to Alabama. Let's get to the box score and a few notes from the contest.

 Kentucky:

Hitting:

Pitching:

 Alabama:

Hitting:

Pitching:

 Kyle Cody and Nick Eicholtz silenced the bats. Both starters went at least seven innings, and allowed less than five hits (only six combined strikeouts, though). Unfortunately, Cody was at the wrong end of the decision this afternoon. An unearned run off a Wildcat throwing error in the top of the first allowed the Crimson Tide to break open the scoring early, and proved to be the difference in the game. The bullpen combination of Zach Strecker and Logan Salow kept the team in striking distance once Cody was pulled, but the late-inning magic wasn't there.

 Too little, too late. The offense didn't do much against Eicholtz, but they managed to make things interesting in the bottom of the eighth. Evan White broke an 0-3 day with a two-out RBI single, but the tying run would be stranded at second after JaVon Shelby followed with a drive to the left field warning track that was as close to being a home run as you can get. Really not much doing for the rest of the lineup today, either. They'll definitely be happy to see the Crimson Tide pitching staff headed back to Tuscaloosa.

That'll do it for today. The team's back in action on Tuesday night against EKU, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at The Cliff. Stay tuned to KSR for all the updates and recaps of the action.

@brooksHoltonKSR