UK Baseball Weekday Recap (March 18th, vs. WKU)

Barry Westerman | UK Athletics After a disappointing beginning to SEC play, one in which the 'Cats finished 1-2 against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Kentucky returned to action today against in-state rival Western Kentucky. The game was UK's lone weekday game, with the Wildcats taking on #1 South Carolina at home this weekend. Western Kentucky came into today's matchup having won 2 of 3 against Georgia State this last weekend, with a overall season record of 10-8. UK took on WKU twice last year, losing both games, one of which lasted 18 innings. Though the Hilltoppers easily handled the Wildcats last year, UK showed up to play today. With that being said, on to a recap of the action... Result: UK 10- WKU 3 Starters: UK- Ryne Combs | WKU- Josh Bartley -- Kentucky wouldn't take long to get the ball rolling offensively. It would only take UK 1 inning to hang 4 runs on the Hilltoppers, a surge that would be started by a Thomas 2-out RBI single, his 13th 2-out RBI of the 2014 Season. -- Austin Cousino, with a rare start as the DH, would start the 2nd with a single, extending his SEC-leading hitting streak to 16. -- WKU would get a run back in the top of the 3rd off of an error, making the score 4-1. -- The Hilltoppers would get another run back in the T4th thanks to a 2-out RBI Triple from Miller. He would get another triple again later in the game, becoming the first Hilltopper to triple twice in one game since 2011. -- After 4 innings pitched, UK Starting Pitcher Combs would be taken out for Sophomore Sam Mahar. Combs would finish the day with a line of 4.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO -- The game would stay relatively quiet until the Bottom of the 7th when UK would plate 6 runs to extend its lead to 10-2. The offensive outburst included RBI's from Wilson, Carson, and Cousino. The inning saw a number of pitching changes for WKU, with Ian Tompkins finally getting the Hilltoppers out of the inning. -- Heading into the 8th Zach Strecker (4.91 ERA) would come in to pitch for Kentucky. Mahar would end his day with a final line of 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO. -- WKU would get one more run in the T9th off of an error by Javon Shelby, making the score 10-3. Shortly after WKU's Diedrick would groundout to 1st to end the game. Hitting: