Boy, yesterday was a really tough day if you were a Kentucky fan. It had all the promise of a great story, but that quickly turned into a Stephen King novel. Kentucky baseball was opening its home slate after sweeping UNC Greensboro, as it welcomed Morehead State to Kentucky Proud Park. Kentucky basketball was host to a struggling Georgia team at Rupp Arena.
The 4 PM first pitch meant you could catch the baseball game, and the weather was perfect. The pitching was far from it.
Kentucky baseball drops home opener to Morehead State
The Cats turned to Chase Alderman, and he struggled mightily against Morehead State. He gave up a single run in the top of the 1st, but the Cats would get a 3-run bases-clearing double from Braxton Van Cleave to take a 3-1 lead into the 3rd.
Alderman gave the lead right back, allowing 3 more earned runs in the 3rd. But the Cats were not going to go away, and they tied it right back up in the bottom of the same inning. Again, Alderman relinquished another run in the 4th before being pulled after 3.2 innings. He finished the day allowing 5 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts.
The Cats were, of course, without Tyler Bell, who remains out indefinitely following a shoulder injury in last Friday's season opener. But that is no excuse to lose to Morehead. This team has enough talent to win a game against the Eagles at home.
The Cats would again take the lead in the bottom of the 5th, but a pair of runs in the top of the 6th meant the Eagles would knock off No. 18 Kentucky. Folks, they were 14-39 last season, and 2-1 coming into this one.
If you want to be taken seriously as a baseball program, this is a game you can not lose, and yet that is exactly what happened.
But hey, there is always basketball right?
WRONG.
If fans were hoping the second half of the double dip would help lift them back up, they were disappointed.
Mark Pope and Kentucky basketball drop 2nd straight
Kentucky started hot and faded as the game went on. Georgia found anything they wanted and at one point had the lead to double-digits. There was nothing fun about that performance in Rupp Arena, and considering Collin Chandler was 6-10 from deep, that is saying something.
But the Cats wouldn't share the ball, and allowed Georgia to make easy passes all night long. Mike White owns Mark Pope, and that is a problem.
What started as a day to see 2 Kentucky teams grab 2 wins and feel good heading into the weekend, BBN is left licking their wounds after two losses that never should have happened.