The baseball season hasn't started quite the way I think Nick Mingione had planned. The Cats opened 3-0 and looked pretty good on the road against UNC Greensboro. Then a bad loss to a Morehead State team that only won 14 games last year, and is now just 2-5 outside of the Kentucky win. Then you go to Evansville and win the first two of the series on the road, only to drop a 1-0 shutout loss in game 3.
Add on that you have lost Tyler Bell to a shoulder injury for an indefinite amount of time, and the Cats were in trouble.
Much like what Morehead State was meant to be, Western Kentucky came to town tonight in hopes of letting the Cats get right.
And it started off pretty awesome. The Cats were up 5-0 through 2 and looked to be well on their way to a comfortable home win. The Hilltoppers pulled a Lee Corso and said, "Not so fast, my friend."
Chase Alderman was better but not great
Chase Alderman was the losing pitcher in that Morehead game; he gave up 5 runs but didn't factor in the decision. Kentucky was hoping for a little better, and they got just a little bit better. Alderman went 4 innings and gave up 2 runs. But it was Leighton Harris who really struggled on this night.
The sophomore went just 1.2 innings and gave up 4 earned runs. And all of a sudden, what was a pretty safe lead felt perilous heading into the money innings. Kentucky was up just 10-9 going into the bottom of the 7th.
Bat Cats find some RBI balance
On a night when the pitching wasn't working, the offense answered in a big way after being shut out by Evansville. The Cats knocked in a pair of home runs with Ethan Hindle and Jayce Tharnish both going yard. But nearly everyone got in on the RBI act on Wednesday night.
The entire batting order knocked in at least 1 run, with the exception of Luke Lawrence, who was 3-6 himself.
Kentucky baseball finds a little breathing room late
As the Hilltoppers inched closer, the Cats found some success in the bottom of the 7th. Hudson Brown had an RBI double, and 2 batters later, Ryan Schwartz drove in Brown on a single. Then Owen Jenkins drove in another run on another RBI single. The Cats then broke out a double steal to get runners on 2nd and 3rd with still only 1 out. Carson Hanson struck out swinging, and Scott Campbell did as well.
But all of a sudden a 1 run game was opened back up to 13-9.
Could the bullpen close it out?
Both teams went quietly in the 8th, and Kentucky was just 3 outs away from getting their first home win of the season.
Burkley Bounds struck out Kyle Hayes swinging, and then Reid Howard looking and finished the inning with another K of Ian Nguyen to strike out the side.
Kentucky had 20 hits, and Western had 10. Cats will be back Friday night against St. John's.