Kentucky needed a bounce-back performance after a bad outing against Morehead State on Tuesday. They wasted no time in jumping on Evansville.
We talked about how the Aces had a tendency of giving up the long ball when Kenton Deverman starts, and that trend continued in the first inning. Jayce Tharnish homered in the 1st to give the Cats a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. The pitching, as it did last weekend, never really allowed Evansville to feel comfortable.
Kentucky baseball starts Friday with bounce-back win
Friday's starter Jaxon Jelkin went 5 innings allowing 3 hits, 1 earned run and struck out 7. In relief Will Coleman was just as dominant, he went 3 innings striking out 4 and not allowing a single hit.
After the home run in the first, Kentucky added 4 more in the third with Ryan Schwartz going yard on a 3-run shot and Hudson Brown scoring on a wild pitch. The Cats added 2 more in the 5th and 6th inning to push the lead out to to 9-0.
The Aces would get on the board in the bottom of the 6th but wouldn't really threaten again until the bottom of the 9th.
Oliver Boone was in to close it out, but surrounded 2 hits, a walk, and hit a batter. He left with the bases loaded after getting 2 outs. Freshman Jack Sams came in and got ahead 0-2 and then finished it off with a swinging strikeout with Reid Haire missing on the 3rd pitch.
For the Cats this was a much needed win. The offense had 6 extra base hits, the starting pitching was back to being what it should be, and everything looked good again. They will look to ride that momentum into tomorrow's doubleheader.
Action begins at 1 PM with the 2nd game coming around 45 minutes after the first finishes. There will be no TV coverage, but you can follow along by clicking here.
The Cats do in fact bounce back, and they move to 4-1 with a big 9-2 victory.