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

Published

4 weeks ago

on

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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Kentucky Baseball Team Shows Support to Family and Teammates of 8-Year-Old Who Passed Away

Published

5 days ago

on

March 24, 2023

By

Family of Eli Hill

Earlier this week tragedy took place in Corbin (KY), as 8-year-old, Eli Hill, passed away playing basketball at his home. In a freak accident, the backboard of a basketball goal came off the pole and fell on him, succumbing to the injuries.

Following the tragedy, the community of Corbin has come together in remembrance of Eli and in support of his family and friends. On Wednesday, a vigil was held at the city’s rotary baseball park, which over a hundred people attended to honor Eli and show love for his family.

“He was a joy to be around, the amount of love, excitement. You know, the care that he had for others,” high school athlete Jacob Baker said.

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On Thursday, the Kentucky baseball team made the hour-and-a-half trip to Corbin to show support to the baseball team of Corbin primary, the baseball team which Eli played for.

In a time of tragedy, it is heartwarming to see people from around the state rally around the family and friends of young Eli, who made an impact on many and will be missed.

The Hill family has also warned others to be cautious of a fake GoFundMe making its way around social media.

Also published on a Sea of Blue.

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Kentucky Baseball on a Tear: Currently Holds the Longest Active Win Streak in the Country

Published

6 days ago

on

March 23, 2023

By

Grant Lee/UK Athletics

Despite their Opening Day loss to Elon on February 17th, the Kentucky baseball team has strung together a successful start to the season with a 19-2 overall record. As of March 21st, Kentucky is on a 15-game winning streak, the longest active win streak in all of D1 baseball.

The last time the Bat Cats lost was on February 25th to Wright State, dropping a single game of the three-game series. Since, they have beaten Morehead State, Murray State, Ohio, Indiana, and Eastern Kentucky and picked up three, three-game series sweeps over Indiana State, Southern Illinois, and SEC opponent Mississippi State.

Kentucky’s success has largely been due to its explosive offense. In the most recent weekend series, the Bat Cats outscored Mississippi State 35-11 over the course of three games. Of their 19 wins, Kentucky has scored 10+ runs six times, including a season-high 21 runs on Southern Illinois.

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In the most recent AP poll, Kentucky broke into the top-25 at #23. Their most recent win came on Tuesday, a 9-3 win over Eastern Kentucky. This weekend, they are heading to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama for another three-game series of conference play.

UK catcher, Devin Burkes, hits 2-run HR in bottom of 7th to take the lead over eku

The Cats will look to extend their win streak and maintain a level of play to get them back into the NCAA tournament. Kentucky has not made the tournament since Coach Nick Mingione’s first season in 2017.

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Four Kentucky Women Players Ejected from SEC Tournament Game

Published

4 weeks ago

on

March 2, 2023

By

UK Athletics

The Kentucky women’s basketball team has had an underwhelming season. With an 11-18 record, their only shot for a bid into the NCAA Tournament is to win the SEC Tournament, something they did just a year ago. However, this time around the Wildcats do not have former first-team All-American, Rhyne Howard on the roster.

Ranked last in the SEC standings, Kentucky received the 14-seed and faced off against an 11-seeded Florida Gators team in the opening round. Given the stakes for both teams, tensions were bound to get high and they did.

With 5:26 remaining in the second quarter, Kentucky’s Ajae Petty pushed the ball at Florida’s Tatyana Wyche and rolled it up her face after a Wildcat basket. In retaliation, Wyche grabbed the ball and threw it in Petty’s direction, however, the ball did not hit anyone and Wyche ran toward Petty.

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Multiple players then engaged in a brief scrum in front of Kentucky’s bench. In total, four technical fouls were called and eight players were ejected (one player was inactive).

Florida

  • Zippy Broughton (inactive), Ejected (leaving the bench)
  • Faith Dut, Ejected
  • Ra Shaya Kyle, Ejected
  • Taliyah Wyche, Ejected (leaving the bench)
  • Tatyana Wyche, Technical Foul, Ejected (fighting)

Kentucky

  • Robyn Benton, Technical Foul
  • Myka Perry, Technical Foul
  • Ajae Petty, Technical Foul
  • Cassidy Rowe, Ejected (leaving the bench)
  • Eniya Russell, Ejected (leaving the bench)
  • Zennia Thomas, Ejected (leaving the bench)
  • Saniah Tyler, Ejected (leaving the bench)

During the altercation, Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy, was briefly knocked over when both teams flooded toward the Wildcats’ bench. When asked about the situation by the media, Elzy called it “a learning experience.”

“Things happen,” Elzy said after the game. “This is two teams battling for wins. The intensity was high. The emotions were high. Obviously, myself or Coach Finley (Florida), that’s not how we want to play out, and we’ll both address our teams.”

Kentucky will next face No. 6 seed Alabama in the second round of the SEC tournament on Thursday.

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