Ryan Ritter has career day as Kentucky takes doubleheader against High Point

There might be some locker room beef going on after Friday because Ryan Ritter is trying his hardest to steal the SEC Player of the Week award away from one of his teammates. The Chicago product went 5-9 with two home runs, five RBI and a triple on the day in the doubleheader sweep of High Point as the ‘Cats move to 13-3 overall.

Cole Stupp returns to form as bats explode in game one

Everybody needed this.

Cole Stupp desperately needed a good outing before likely facing a No. 3 ranked Arkansas next week. The offense didn’t need it quite as badly, but mercy-ruling your opponent 14-3 sure doesn’t hurt the confidence either.

Kentucky hopped out immediately with two runs in the first. The All-American launched a 432-foot bomb off the light pole in left-center to lead off the game. An Adam Fogel sac-fly brought in Estep to finish out the frame.

RITT!@RyRit47 starts us off right by going 432 feet off the light pole!

Watch on SECN+ pic.twitter.com/hvSM4jiinH

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) March 11, 2022

Speaking of Estep, that dude just absolutely refuses to stop raking the ball. Following an RBI single from John Thrasher in the third, Estep ripped a two-run shot for his team-leading sixth of the year at the time. It was his third home run in four games.

“You kinda hope you can keep it going,” Estep said regarding another impressive day at the plate. “It’s a team effort however I can help. Hopefully I keep hitting home runs but even if I don’t, whatever it takes to help us win or get on the scoreboard.”

Kentucky added four more in the third by way of RBI doubles from Ritter and Alonzo Rubalcaba. Kirk Liebert capped off the mercy-rule win with a grand slam in the fifth, the first home run of his career.

And @KirkLiebert follows it up with a grand slam and it's 13-0 in the 5th! pic.twitter.com/fNXy9xsE6Y

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) March 11, 2022

Cole Stupp had his first quality start of the season today. Coming into the game with a 9.58 ERA on the year, Stupp absolutely needed this if he didn’t want people calling for his starting spot. We’ll still see how he does next week, but at least there was a glimpse of hope today.

The junior finished with a line of six innings pitched and three earned runs. He was working with a shutout into the seventh until some ill-fated luck forced him out.

“His tempo was fantastic. He was landing multiple pitches for a strike, the sink on the fastball was there,” Nick Mingione said about his Friday night starter. “He had the look. He had the ‘Eye of the Tiger’ look. When he gets that, watch out.”

Bat ‘Cats hold off big inning from Panthers in game two

I promise you, you weren’t watching a replay of game one if you turned this one on early. Ryan Ritter hit his second leadoff home run of the day and second of his career when the ‘Cats got their first chance up at-bat in the second contest. One they would eventually walk away with by a score of 9-5.

This is not a double post…@RyRit47 opens BOTH games of today's DH with home runs!

Watch on SECN+ pic.twitter.com/uiPpH5vbpi

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) March 11, 2022

“I’ve had one [leadoff home run] before back in JUCO and it was a lot of fun,” Ritter said after the game. “I did not expect to do two but I had in the back of my mind. I made sure I swung hard and that happened.”

The shortstop was at the cause of the next scoring spree for Kentucky, coincidently happening the next inning. Ritter ripped a two-RBI triple into the right-center gap. A couple of batters later, Jake Plastiak launched a two-run home run to make it a 6-0 game.

“Our guys love Ryan Ritter, how could you not, right?” Mingione said. “When that guy gets hot, he’s hot and he can help make the team go.”

After Hunter Jump flied out to make it a seven-run game, the Panthers started to make a comeback.

That was mostly due to the fading performance of Magdiel Cotto, who looked decent for the most part until his usual flaws bit him in the end. The sophomore was actually pitching a no-hitter through four innings. He, unfortunately, fell apart and couldn’t make it through the fifth.

Cotto allowed three hits and walked two in the inning, letting up a couple of runs before giving Darren Williams the bases loaded. Williams allowed two more hits, bringing in three more runs, but all were credited towards Cotto as UK left the fifth inning up 7-5. Williams has still not had an earned run credited to his name all season.

“He’s throwing well and he continues to throw well. It’s a good thing when we can just use him and we still got Harney and a bunch of other guys,” Mingione said. “We just played two games and used four guys, that’s really a big deal.”

Seeing that Plastiak tied him for the team lead earlier in the game, Estep had to porch another ball over the right-field bullpen in the sixth — his second home run of the day and seventh of the season. Adam Fogel closed out scoring with an RBI-double in the bottom of the eighth.

With an off-day on Saturday due to the expected weather conditions, Kentucky and High Point will finish their weekend series with a Sunday matinee. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted on the SEC Network+.