UK Baseball Weekend Recap (April 4-6)

Barry Westerman | UK Athletics 

It may be hard for fans across the Bluegrass to pay much attention to anything other than the Final Four and MLB, with the 2014 season kicking off this last week (No, we’re not going to count whatever happened in Australia as the beginning of the season). With that being said, UK Baseball is just over halfway through the 2014 campaign, with 6 remaining SEC series after this last weekend. With a 4-5 conference record, #19 UK went to work this weekend against another ranked SEC opponent, Florida. Miss any of the action with everything else going on? We’ve got you covered. On to the recap…

April 4th, vs. #12 Florida

Result: UK 17– Florida 1
Starting Pitchers: UK- AJ Reed  | UF- Eric Hanhold

As they have done multiple times this season, the BatCats exploded offensively, beating the Gators in one of the most lopsided games in recent history. Kentucky scored 17 runs off of 20 hits, with Austin Cousino and Max Kuhn combining for 7 RBI’s. While the ‘Cats smacked the ball around, what was also impressive was AJ Reed on the mound. In 7 innings, Reed only gave up 5 hits and 2 walks while allowing no runners to score. Florida’s lone run would come in the T9th off of Ryne Combs, who put in 2 solid innings to close out the game.

April 5th, vs. #12 Florida

Result: UK 10- Florida 11
Starting Pitchers: UK-  Chandler Shepherd | UF- Logan Shore

While UK had fun at the plate on Friday, Florida had its fair share on Saturday. Though the final score shows that it was only a 1 run game, the Gators owned a 9-0 lead heading into the B8th. With UF’s starter Logan Shore coming out, UK would score 8 runs to pull within 1. Unfortunately for the ‘Cats, Florida would plate 2 more runs off of Kyle Cody and Matt Snyder in the T9th to stretch the lead to 11-8. Kentucky would score 2 more runs in the last inning thanks to RBI’s from Shelby and Cousino but fall just short of an amazing comeback win.

April 6th, vs. #12 Florida

Result: UK 9– Florida 8
Starting Pitchers: UK- Andrew Nelson | UF- Kirby Snead

While the previous two games were blow-outs (for the most part), Sunday’s match saw numerous lead changes and who was going to win wasn’t certain until the last out was recorded. UK jumped out to an early 1-0 lead off of a Shelby RBI single in the B2nd, though that lead wouldn’t last long as Florida would plate 2 runs in the T3rd to gain the lead. UK would tie it in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a solo shot from AJ Reed, his 12th of the year. The game would remain quiet until the T5th, when the Gators would add another run to take a slim lead. Then, just as they had done the last several games, the Cats had an offensive explosion, plating 7 runs in the B6th. The game seemed like a lock at that point, but the Gators would put together a rally of their own, scoring 5 runs in the T8th, making it a one run ballgame with an inning left. Luckily for the Cats, Spencer Jack (who stayed in the game after giving up 2 of the 5 runs in the previous inning) and Kyle Cody would close out the 9th without allowing another run, getting Kentucky another valuable SEC win.

Upcoming Schedule

UK vs Morehead St | 4/08/2014 | Lexington, Kentucky  | 6:30 PM ET

UK vs Missouri    | 4/11/2014 | Lexington, Kentucky  | 6:30 PM ET

UK vs Missouri    | 4/12/2014 | Lexington, Kentucky  | 7:00 PM ET

UK vs Missouri    | 4/13/2014 | Lexington, Kentucky | 1:00 PM ET