Kentucky baseball starts the season off with a sweep against USC Upstate
By John Strong
Kentucky baseball has started their season with a weekend series in Spartanburg, South Carolina against the USC Upstate Spartans.
Game 1
Kentucky’s starting lineup consists of 3B Nick Lopez, 1B Ryan Nicholson, C Devin Burkes, 2B Emilien Pitre, DH Reuben Church, RF James McCoy, SS Grant Smith, LF Nolan McCarthy, CF Griffin Cameron with Travis Smith starting on the mound.
In the second inning, when the scoring started, Reuben Church hit a double to the opposite field, which sent Emilien Pitre home for the first run of the season. The Cats would end up scoring four in the inning, which included a first-time at-bat hit for true freshman starter Griffin Cameron. The Spartans scored two in the bottom of the second.
Four more runs came in the top of the fifth, which gave the Cats an 8-2 lead. Then the game was topped off with Devin Burke's two-run home run in the eighth. The game ended 11-7 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats. Nick Lopez had three hits (two doubles) on the day with Ryan Nicholson, Grant Smith, and Devin Burkes having two hits each.
Game 2
Kentucky’s starting lineup consisted of 3B Nick Lopez, 1B Ryan Nicholson, C Devin Burkes, 2B Emilien Pitre, DH Reuben Church, RF James McCoy, CF Griffin Cameron, LF Nolan McCarthy, SS Grant Smith with Central Connecticut State transfer Dominic Niman starting on the mound.
Kentucky had Nick Lopez score in the first inning to give the Cats an early lead. Then some chaos happened in the fourth inning that caused three bad throws on USC Upstate, which helped James McCoy and Griffin Cameron cross home plate to give the Cats a 3-0 lead. No more scoring happened in this game; Kentucky won 3-0 in game number two, giving them the series.
Dominic Niman pitched for five innings allowing four hits and getting six strikeouts. Johnny Hummel finished the job by striking out the side. The Spartans only had five hits in the game, while the Cats had eight stolen bases.
Game 3
Since the Cats already won the series, the lineup looks different. Kentucky’s starting lineup consisted of DH Patrick Herrera, 1B Ryan Nicholson, C Devin Burkes, 2B Emilien Pitre, LF Nolan McCarthy, RF Lukas Schramm, 3B Mitchell Daly, CF Ty Crittenberger, SS Grant Smith with Mason Moore starting on the mound.
Mitchell Daly hits it to center field to bring Lukas Schramm home to give the Cats a 1-0 lead in the second. In the same inning, Grant Smith had a great bunt, which doubled the Cats lead. Patrick Herrera singled to left field, which brought Ty Crittenberger home, giving the Cats a 3-0 lead. To lead off the fourth inning, Lukas Schramm hit a home run in his collegiate debut.
In the fifth inning, Emilien Pitre singled to left field, which sent Devin Burkes home. This happened after Devin Burkes stole second base. Then Nolan McCarthy singled to right center, and this led to another Kentucky run by Emilien Pitre. At this point, the Cats are leading 6-0.
In the sixth, Mitchell Daly was walked on a full count, and then Ty Crittenberger hit a home run down the left field line to move the lead to 8-0. The Spartans ended up hitting a two-run home run of their own in the bottom of the inning. In the eighth, true freshman Eli Small hit a home run to center field. Kentucky now had a 9-2 advantage until USC Upstate homered in the bottom of the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Spartans had bases loaded with two outs, and Colby Frieda got Cats out of the jam. Kentucky wins 9-3, and Mason Moore earns the win in his first career start. The Cats start the season with a sweep against USC Upstate.