Kentucky baseball continues its maddening up-and-down play this season. The Cats' offense took a long time to wake up against Evansville in game 1, and in game 2 of the doubleheader, it was nonexistent.
Kentucky baseball rallies late in game 1
The Cats were down 3-1 before finding some offensive energy in the 7th when they put one more on the board when Hudson Brown scored on an error. That momentum carried over into the 8th inning when the Cats would get a go-ahead 2-run double, and then add an insurance run in the 9th to win game 1 5-3.
Jaxon Jelkin was stellar Friday night, but Ben Cleaver struggled a little more than he did last weekend Saturday afternoon. He went 4 innings, allowed 4 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), and struck out 5. It was He did not factor into the decision as he left trailing 2-1. Hudson Brown was 3-4, leading the Cats, who left 13 players on base, something that would haunt them in game 2.
Kentucky shutout in embarrassing loss to Evansville
The Cats had all the momentum heading into the last game of the weekend, and they were looking for a much-needed sweep of a team that was struggling. It was important to win all 3 because the Cats lost to Morehead State last Tuesday.
When you hold a team to 2 hits across a 9 inning game, you should win that game pretty easily. Don't tell that to Nick Mingione's group. Somehow the Cats managed to strand 10 more runners on base in game 2. 23 total over the 2 games on Saturday.
That is not good now, but it points worse for the games coming up. Kentucky had just 4 hits and didn't look comfortable at the plate several times.
The good news is that the pitching was again dominant. Nate Harris went 5 innings, allowed 1 hit, 1 run, struck out 7, and walked 2. In one of the weirder box scores, each Evansville player struck out 1 time exactly. Despite that line, he picks up the loss because Kentucky's offense was atrocious.
Ethan Hindle was 1-5, Luke Lawrence and Owen Jenkins were 1-4, and Tagger Tyson was 1-3. That's the entirety of the offense against a team that allowed no less than 5 runs and 8 hits in any game this season.
This is early, but much like last year, early losses can really hurt your record when the SEC gauntlet starts.
But to end things on a high note, the Cats will not leave Kentucky again until March 19th, so they have a chance to really run up some wins. It starts Tuesday against Western Kentucky, with the first pitch scheduled for 4 PM.