Having trouble getting registered or subscribing? Email us at info@kysportsreport.com or Private Message CitizenBBN and we'll get you set up!

  • Kentucky v Louisville Super Regional Game 2

    Lineup change: Troy Squires in at catcher, Luke Becker out of the DH spot, replaced by Kole Cottam.

    Sean Hjelle on the mound, Kentucky is the home team today.

    Comments 139 Comments
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Quote Originally Posted by dan_bgblue View Post
      Not a good outing at all
      No, I really think we're seeing the product of a tired team from many. We played three games Sunday-Monday, then got a "favorable" draw from the NCAA by playing Fri-Sun, rather than Sat-Mon, so we got shorted a day's rest, and then just to add a tiny bit of insult to injury, we played the very first game of the day in the hot sun, and couldn't rest another half day.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Cats need two this inning. Cottam to lead it off. Three would be better. Four even better. You get the idea.

      Cottam hits it off the fist for a soft grounder to 2nd, easy 4-3 for out # 1.

      Mahan up, batting .444 in the NCAA tournament. Good at bat til he struck out swinging for out # 2.

      Squires lines to left field for 3 up, 3 down inning.

      Top 9
      Louisville 6
      Kentucky 2

      (flipped to try to change the mojo)
    1. dan_bgblue's Avatar
      dan_bgblue -
      That is true, but he did not pitch well imo.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Nick Mingione is a fantastic coach, but I had my quibbles with him yesterday and today. But truth is, probably nothing makes a difference. We're losing to a better team, at their place, they are well-rested, playing two fewer games than we did, etc.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Infield single, and Cats will use Justin Lewis in relief, probably won't get a chance to pitch tomorrow. But get out quickly, and have a huge bottom of the 9th, and he could still start tomorrow.

      There's a hit and runners at the corners and no outs, and Louisville could blow it even further open. Bunt foul doesn't squeeze him in, and Lewis comes back and strikes him out, terrific job.

      One out, ball back to Lewis comes home, gets runner in rundown for out # 2, runners advance to 2nd and 3rd. Walks batter on full count, bases are loaded. 3 pitches, strikeout, and Louisville again strands bases loaded. This game could have been double digits EASY for Louisville, but some clutch pitching and defense kept it closer.

      Bottom 9
      Kentucky 2
      Louisville 6
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      OK, Kentucky needs 5 runs to win this game and have Justin Lewis start tomorrow, winning both games. Now wouldn't that be cool? He threw 19 pitches, 11 strikes, 8 balls.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      7-8-9, and if you need 5 runs, that's not a bad place in the lineup to start, as you need them to reach base for the big hitters. I'm trying to be optimistic.

      3-1, and Louisville now gets upset about a pitched called a ball? Ha! Have seen that all day (on and off) called a ball. Or a strike, flip a coin.

      Full count, and ball low, and Marshall walks. Good job of leading off the inning.

      Bordner has thrown 29 pitches, all fastballs. When does he get tired?

      Carson up. Strike one. Takes a pitch high and outside, and of course, that's a strike, and it's 0-2. Tries to get him to chase one a little farther out and high, but he doesn't bite, and it's 1-2. Another one there, 2-2. UofL players yapping at Bordner just to throw strikes, and he throws one over the heart, and Carson smashes it to RCF, the center fielder crashes against the wall and catches the sure-fire extra base hit for out # 1. Nice play.

      Heady up, and instead of two on, nobody out (or one in), it's one one, one out.

      Mingione out discussing something. I don't know what. They say whether he caught it or not? Is he saying it was trapped against the wall? Specious argument.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Mingione retreats, and nothing changes, and Heady up. My ESPN feed (on my TV, not streaming) froze--did yours? Then it sped up like 4x speed, and Bornder threw a 364 mile an hour fastball.

      Heady looks at a called strike three and there are two outs. Cats need Pompey and White to reach for this game to have a chance to continue.

      Pompey grounds to 1st, pitcher covering, and UofL celebrates Pompey being called safe. LOL. That was kinda funny. The pitcher was too late getting over, and just missed it. Error charged to the 1st baseman. Hmm.

      Now Evan White up. Wouldn't it be cool to see back-to-back round trippers?

      Won't happen. White flies out to RF in his last at-bat as a Kentucky Wildcat.

      Final score:

      Louisville 6
      Kentucky 2

      And that's the ballgame, and the season. Great season, Kentucky fans. Thanks, Nick Mingione, for bringing quality baseball to Lexington.

      Thanks to everyone here for a great season, have enjoyed discussing Kentucky baseball all year, and look forward to doing it again next year. I'll worry about the lineup and who will be playing after the MLB draft and see which UK players stay, whether we lose any recruits, etc., but I think the future is bright under Coach Mingione.
    1. ShoesSwayedBlue's Avatar
      ShoesSwayedBlue -
      Great season. U of L is just really tough at hone. And screw Stanford.
    1. dan_bgblue's Avatar
      dan_bgblue -
      Great season for the Cats. Will miss looking forward to the next game for a few weeks.
    1. blueboss's Avatar
      blueboss -
      Shoot!! Thought he had all of that one...


      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Quote Originally Posted by ShoesSwayedBlue View Post
      Great season. U of L is just really tough at hone. And screw Stanford.
      Ditto. We were very close to hosting against a much weaker team than Louisville.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Quote Originally Posted by dan_bgblue View Post
      Great season for the Cats. Will miss looking forward to the next game for a few weeks.
      Will adopt LSU as my next team, but it ain't anywhere close to the same. Can't even name 5 players.

      Next week after the draft, let's look at what we think Kentucky's lineup will be. Would love to see guys like Justin Lewis return, but obviously hoping for the best for him and hope he gets what he wants from the draft.

      Guys like Evan White - ya gotta go. Wish he'd win the lottery on the way to a beach vacation, and choose to return to Lexington, but that's the only way I could see him returning.
    1. dan_bgblue's Avatar
      dan_bgblue -
      If he came back for his 4th year he would likely play in the outfield. 2 positions need filling there for sure.

      If UF, LSU, A&M get in, it could have always been 4 if the Cats had played at home and not against UL. It was stacked against them when they did not get the Super hosting rights
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      This Kentucky team accomplished a lot. And they left it on the field each and every game. So what I'm about to say is not a criticism; just an observation.

      In three of the last four weekends, Kentucky dropped 2 of 3 games: at home, vs UGA; on the road, vs UF; in the SEC Tournament.

      Turn ONE of those around, and there's a legitimate shot Kentucky gets a national seed. And today, they are either starting their host series in Lexington or playing their 2nd game, likely up 1-0. And against a team not named Louisville. And against a team not ranked in the top 10.

      Just the way it goes. Kentucky was good, but not good enough to be able to play less than terrific and win series against a UGA team with its back against the wall, or against a Florida team playing for the SEC title, or in the SEC tournament against the hottest team in the country (LSU) or a team fighting for a NCAA berth with a strong tradition in baseball (South Carolina).

      And those things snowball.

      The other thing that snowballed was losing the game Saturday in the Regionals. Required exhausting all of our pitching, and then some. Was Sean Hjelle as fresh as he would have been if he had not thrown 140+ pitches since Friday? I don't think so. How important is that?

      Just the way it goes.
    1. CitizenBBN's Avatar
      CitizenBBN -
      I was going to post in this thread that, once again, the one I want back is the Georgia series. I felt like we just started to fade at that point, and numerically we win that and the rest goes the same we still probably get a national seed.

      they just seemed to run out of gas mentally in the end. That's not a criticism either, they had a great year and did better than we'd have ever hoped, it just seemed they lost a little swagger somewhere at the end.
    1. kingcat's Avatar
      kingcat -
      Seemed to me our bats got weak at seasons end while the overall numbers kept pitchers on edge allowing us to get on base. Good season regardless
    1. Rock Hard Ten's Avatar
      Rock Hard Ten -
      Have I recently told you all how much I deeply despise all things having to do with Luavul sports?
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Lol. I get it, RHT.

      Let's not diminish where Kentucky finished. IMHO, despite the perceived drop of the team, they were better than several teams that will make the CWS. They were better than Texas A&M, who made it, and their opponent, Davidson. Florida State is leading 19-0 over Sam Houston State, and Kentucky is better than both of those teams.

      LSU likely beats Mississippi State, and LSU is better than Kentucky as well, but that's no disgrace. I'm not going to continue, but you get my drift.

      Same for Louisville, we're not as good as them on their field, with less rest than they had. No disgrace. On a neutral field, Kentucky is very close to Louisville, and they are a top 5 team. Very close, especially if you give each team equal rest.

      That's very good. Kentucky was a top 8 team *at the end of the season.* Unfortunately, we didn't have everything line up the way we needed.
  • KSR Twitter Feed

  • Recent Forum Posts

    Harlow

    Re: Oakland v UK hall of fame

    See ya next guys with a new coach

    Harlow 03-22-2024, 08:36 AM Go to last post
    Darrell KSR

    Re: Oakland v UK hall of fame

    I'll grade the first point. I wonder who had Oakland winning?

    I kid, kid. Since I made the post, I guess the least I can do is go ahead and

    Darrell KSR 03-21-2024, 09:18 PM Go to last post
    DanISSELisdaman

    Re: Oakland v UK hall of fame

    UK by 19
    Reeves 26
    320
    21
    41%

    DanISSELisdaman 03-21-2024, 06:25 PM Go to last post
    Harlow

    Re: Oakland v UK hall of fame

    No problem buddy

    Harlow 03-21-2024, 05:08 PM Go to last post
    Darrell KSR

    Re: Oakland v UK hall of fame

    Thanks, Harlow--I corrected it to 22. No idea, of course, and watch 18 be the right answer lol. Anyway, I appreciate the heads up.

    Darrell KSR 03-21-2024, 04:30 PM Go to last post