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Baseball Cats Go 2-1 Against Wright State Raiders in First Home Series

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UK Athletics

It’s now transitioning to baseball season in Lexington. The Kentucky baseball is underway in Lexington and the Bat-Cats already have a few wins under their belt. This past weekend, the Cats opened their home season opener against the Wright State Raiders, a good program that has the most conference tournament championships in the Horizon League.

Game One: Kentucky 8-Wright State 3

Starting the series on Friday, the Wildcats beat the Raiders 8-3 in what was all around hitting clinic for the Cats. Fourteen hits on the day, six of which were doubles. The Raiders started the game by scoring two runs quickly at the top of the first, the Wildcats then answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first.

Catcher Devin Burkes finished the game with three doubles and three RBIs, Second Baseman Emilien Pitre also had three hits and three RBIs.

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Through six, Pitcher Logan Martin allowed four hits and three runs before Darren Williams closed out the game by allowing zero hits and zero runs in the closing three innings of the game.

Game Two: Wright State 12-Kentucky 9

The second game of the series started a little differently for the Cats. The Raiders came out hot, hitting two home runs by Andrew Patrick and Jay Luikart in the first inning, capping off a 4-0 lead early on.

The Raiders’ lead got up to 9-1 through the first five innings. The tale of the Wildcats’ struggles on Saturday was the multiple errors made by the infield. Four error total, three of which were failed pickoff attempts.

The Wildcats used five different pitchers in the game that let up a total of twelve runs on the day. Starting pitcher Tyler Bosma took the loss after pitching 2 1/3 innings allowing 6 runs. Austin Strickland, Seth Logue, Colby Freida, and Ryder Giles all finished the Cats’ pitching game. Each pitcher allowed at least one run, with Strickland allowing three.

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The Cats closed the deficit to as close as 10-8 through the 8th inning, but couldn’t grab a lead as Wright State closed out the game with a 2-run 9th inning to seal the game 12-9.

Game Three: Kentucky 15-Wright State 0

The Wildcats came to play on Sunday for the final game of the series. Devin Burkes homered to deep left field with James Mccoy on base, putting the Cats up 2-0 early after the first inning. Kentucky then followed their hot start with a 4-run second inning.

The Wildcats lead got up to 9-0 after six innings of play, forcing the Raiders to use five different during that stretch.

RHP Zach Lee pitched a gem. Through six, he allowed zero runs off three hits before getting pulled. Ryan Hagenow came in at the top of the seventh allowing zero runs. Junior LHP Magdiel Cotto came in to close the game at the top of the eighth.

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Kentucky didn’t let up, scoring six runs in the bottom of the eight, behind a Hunter Gilliam 2-run home run, stretching the score to 15-0. Devin Burkes finished the game hitting 3-6 with a home run and seven RBIs.

Series Wrap Up

For the series, the Cats played overall pretty well. Totaling 36 hits and 32 runs on the weekend. Kentucky improves their record to 5-2 early on this season and hopes to finish their non-conference schedule strong before SEC play starts in a few weeks.

Kentucky plays one game against Morehead State on Tuesday, the opens a three-game series against Indiana State next weekend in Lexington.

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A Pair of Kentucky Alumni Look to Continue Hot Streaks in NBA Play-In

Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo led the Miami Heat to a win in the first round of the NBA play-in, and they aren’t done yet.

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Tyler Herro during his time at Kentucky.
UK Athletics

Despite playing during different eras in their time wearing the blue and white, Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo have come together on the next level to create a powerful duo for the Miami Heat. Their performance in the first round of this year’s play-in is further proof of their effectiveness together.

The nine-seeded Heat traveled to Chicago to fight for a spot in the playoffs, and from the jump, the aforementioned pair of Kentucky alumni took control in what became a complete blowout.

Throughout the convincing 109-90 road win, Herro, now in his fifth year in the NBA, led the offensive charge. He finished the night with a stat-stuffing 38 points, five rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes of game time. Chicago simply didn’t have an answer for Miami’s flame-throwing shooter out of Lexington.

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In the paint, Bam Adebayo held things down and led the team in rebounds, nabbing 12 boards, and tallying 15 points to boot in just one less minute than Herro. Together, the duo buried the Bulls on their own floor and kept the Heat’s head above water going forward.

While both players came up ultimately short during their time with Kentucky, albeit after two incredibly memorable seasons and Elite Eight runs, their ongoing success in the NBA is both a testament to their talent and the program’s legacy. Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat.

The Kentucky Heat (Miami Wildcats?) will be back in action tonight against the Atlanta Hawks to determine their seeding fate in the NBA Playoffs. Tune in at 7:00 p.m. on TNT, truTV, or Max to cheer on some seriously special former ‘Cats.

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Can The Bat Cats Get Hot At The Right Time?

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Kentucky baseball needs to start piling up the wins
Ethan Rand | UK Athletics

Sitting at a 20-14 (6-9 SEC) record with just under 20 games remaining in the regular season, it’s fair to say that Kentucky baseball must play every remaining game on its schedule like a playoff game; a must win.

Through 34 games this season, the Bat Cats have already played in 17 games that have been decided by two or less runs or went into extra innings.

You can look at the recent series’ against No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 2 Texas as examples. Kentucky went toe-to-toe with both of these squads, and frankly, should have left each of those series with more than one win to its name.

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As the Wildcats hover around the top 40 mark in multiple rankings, it’s assumed that if they win a little more than half of their games, they’re almost an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. We’ve seen several SEC teams make the tournament before with just 13 confrence wins.

Kentucky has exactly 18 games remaining, 15 of those being conference matchups. This weekend, the Wildcats travel to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the No. 2 team in the nation, the Tennessee Volunteers.

Knocking off the defending National Champions at least once would be huge for Nick Mingione and company, earning Kentucky’s fifth victory of the season against a top 15 opponent.

“For us, it just keeps coming back to our ability to execute, said Mingione after the Wildcats walk-off win on April 15. “I just keep harping on these guys about is when we execute, and we do what we’re trained to do, we’ve had a lot of success…I have the belief in this team.”

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Tonight, the first pitch against the Volunteers is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.

The Wildcats remaining conference schedule consists of:

April 18-20 @ No. 2 Tennessee

April 25-27 vs. South Carolina

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May 2-4 @ Mississippi State

May 9-11 vs. No. 12 Oklahoma

May 15-17 @ No. 19 Vanderbilt


All rankings are provided from Baseball America.

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Kentucky Officially Signs Transfer Guard Tonie Morgan

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Tonie Morgan
UK Athletics

On April 15, Georgia Tech transfer Tonie Morgan committed to Kentucky, the third transfer that Kenny Brooks has earned this offseason.

Almost as trademark as Cody Fueger’s “boom” posts, when you hear ‘Sicko Mode’ and see this video, you know Brooks just locked in another commit.

The two-time All-ACC guard averaged 13.7 points per game, 5.6 assists per game and 4.5 rebounds per game as a junior last season. Now a senior, Morgan brings even more leadership and depth to this Kentucky squad.

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Leading Georgia Tech in assists and showcasing her playmaking skills all last season, it’s clear that Brooks has found his replacement for Georgia Amoore.

Morgan has huge shoes to fill, stepping up to be Kentucky’s floor general after the departure of one of the greatest to ever play, but that chapter is over and now this team needs a new identity.

Will she pull deep threes like Amoore? No, not necessarily, but she will get downhill, find shooters and take advantage of any defender that isn’t fast enough to keep up.

On April 17, the team announced that Morgan is officially a Wildcat, receiving high praise from Brooks himself.

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“Tonie has demonstrated that she is one of the better point guards in the country and we are very fortunate that she will be in the Blue and White,” said Brooks.

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