No. 13 Kentucky to meet Morehead State in explosive matchup at Cliff Hagan Stadium

[wes011]

Top 6 UK up 4-0

[Darrell KSR]

Daniel Harper started for Kentucky and did a fine job, but left with two on and no outs in the top of the 5th inning. Carson Coleman took over, struck out two consecutive batters, and got a groundout, and left the runners stranded. Awesome job.

[Darrell KSR]

Daniel Harper's line: 4.0 innings, 5 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, 0 runs.
Carson Coleman has now thrown 2.0 innings of 0 hit, 1 walk ball, 0 runs.

[Darrell KSR]

Squires, Becker, Cottam and Heyer each have an RBI for Kentucky. Only three hits, shared by Cottam, Heyer and Johnson.

[Darrell KSR]

Cats have pulled off two inning-ending double plays today, one 5-4-3 (4th inning), one 6-4-3 (6th inning).

Luke Heyer has homered.

[Darrell KSR]

Heyer now has 14 home runs to tie Kole Cottam for team lead.

[Darrell KSR]

Becker to lead off the bottom of the 6th inning, and he flies out. Cottam works a full-count walk. Heyer up with a man on.

There's a base hit to right, Cottam scoots all the way around to 3rd and we are cooking with runners on the corners.

Heyer caught stealing. Crap. Now two outs. I get that you wanted out of the double play possibility, but dang, now we will need a base hit to score a run.

OR A WILD PITCH. Guess which one we got?

Wild pitch, and Kole Cottam comes around to score and it's 5-0, Wildcats.

Ben Aklinski up and now the bases are empty, but the Cats have added to the lead. Aklinski fights back from 2-2 to draw a walk.

Ryan Shinn up, DHing tonight. He's 0-1 with a strikeout, batting .291 for the season. He's ahead on the count, 2-1. Aklinski down to 2nd base on a wild pitch, and a base hit may score him.

Shinn draws a bases loaded walk. Two on, two out for Ryan Johnson. He's 1-2 today, batting .267 for the season with 29 runs scored, 20 RBIs, 3 home runs.

Add a strikeout to end the inning.

T7 | Kentucky 5, Morehead State 0

[Darrell KSR]

Carson Coleman's night is over after a stellar two innings of work. He gives way to right-hander, Jimmy Ramsey.

Ramsey has thrown 24.1 innings this season, allowing 23 hits, fanning 27, with a 5.55 ERA. He'll face 9-1-2 of the Morehead State lineup this inning.

[Darrell KSR]

Ramsey gets a leadoff strikeout, a groundout, and another strikeout for a perfect inning.

B7 | Kentucky 5, Morehead State 0

[Darrell KSR]

Kentucky has done a whale of a job against Morehead State All-America Niko Hulsizer. He was the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year last year as a sophomore, and made a bunch of All-American teams. He led the nation in home runs with 27 last season, 82 RBIs, and total bases with 193.

He missed a month of the season this year, so his stats are not as gaudy, but he's the same player. And he's 0-4 tonight with two strikeouts.

Cats have Trey Dawson to lead it off, followed by the top of the order in Tristan Pompey then Troy Squires. Might as well add a few more runs, don't you think?

Dawson will face a new Morehead State pitcher, their 5th of the night. I think his name is Jagermeister. No, it's Ziegelmeyer. Close enough?

Whoever he is dispenses with Dawson quickly enough, as a four-pitch strikeout begins the inning. Pompey up with one out, nobody on.

Pompey is going to get a good look at this pitcher. But only from the on-deck circle, as he offers at the first pitch he sees, and lofts a fly ball to CF for out # 2.

Squires up, and he'll take a pitch. Ball one. He'll take a strike, but he doesn't see one, and it's ball two. Will he be swinging? Ball three. Might as well finish it off, right?

Ball four. Four pitch walk. Sometimes good things happen when you watch a pitch.

Becker at the plate, and there's a smash to LCF. He'll round first and head to 2nd. Squires motors around 2nd base, on to 3rd, and he's waved in. There's a relay from SS to C, and he's out at the plate. Crap.

T8 | Kentucky 5, Morehead State 0

[Darrell KSR]

Ramsey's day is done after a perfect 1 inning of work, striking out two. He gives way to Alec Maley.

Maley is a better pitcher than these stats will indicate, but he has thrown 16.2 innings, allowing 16 hits, striking out 15, and a bloated 6.48 ERA. He'll face the meat of the Morehead lineup, 3-4-5 (Morris, Snyder, Leonard).

Morris is batting .407 on the season, by the way. Hard to get him out.

**Side note--I haven't confirmed this, but I am told that Kentucky has had an incredible FIVE (5) players thrown out on the basepaths tonight. Kentucky will explain it by saying they are aggressive, but again, even aggressive running has to have limits.**

Maley ahead of the batter, 1-2. Ball two. Ball three. Ball four. Well, crap.

He's ahead 0-2. He has that part figured out. There's a smash right at Dawson, and the lineout for out # 1 helps.

There's a base hit to right field, and runners on the corners, one out. Don't need to let Morehead State think they are in this game.

Fly ball to CF, and we'll trade the run for an out. Two outs, and Morehead State is on the board, trailing 5-1.

There's a ground ball to Becker and he handles it, and we're out of the inning.

B8 | Kentucky 5, Morehead State 1

[Darrell KSR]

Ziegelmeyer exits in favor of Morehead State's 6th pitcher, JC Hatcher.

Hatcher will face Cottam, Heyer and Aklinski for Kentucky. Would like to see Cats get that run back.

Cottam singles on an 0-1 offering right back where it came from and there's the leadoff runner on. Cottam has made four plate appearances today, with two base hits and two walks, reaching all four times.

We're moving toward the bottom of the lineup, so you wonder if we'll play small ball here or not, but an added run sure would be nice. Heyer can hit the long ball and gappers, so I'm guessing Nick lets him hit. Heyer is also 2-3 for the day, batting .340 with 14 home runs and a robust 44 RBIs.

2-0 count and there's a hitter's pitch, but he doesn't get all of it, and flies to LF for out # 1. Darn.

Aklinski at the plate.

BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE.

Aklinski with his 5th roundtripper of the season, a long blast to RCF, scores Cottam ahead of him, and Kentucky gets the run back, and one more. Home runs also eliminate baserunning mistakes.

Cats up 7-1.

Shinn at the plate, and he fans on three pitches. Kinda made the pitcher mad, I guess. Two down.

Morehead to bring their 7th pitcher of the game in to pitch--looks to me like two batters too late, but who asks me?

I'll post this and return.

[Darrell KSR]

Ryan Johnson at the plate, and he's in the hole, 1-2 to Pitcher # 7, aka David Looney. Looney with an 8.14 ERA on the season.

Ball two.
Ball three.
Ball four.

There's a walk. And are you kidding me? Morehead State pulls the pitcher after one batter and brings in pitcher # 8 on the night, Jeff Purnell and his old Old Folks Sausage.

Will post and return.

[Darrell KSR]

Purnell, aka "OFS" (Old Folks Sausage), has thrown 5.1 innings of 3 hit, 10 strikeout ball this season, without allowing an earned run. Maybe they should have brought him in before now?

OFS will face # 9 hitter Trey Dawson. Johnson on 1st, two outs.

Johnson takes off, and steals 2nd base. Now a hit adds a run. Dawson fans for the 3rd time tonight; he is not having a good night at the plate.

T9 | Kentucky 7, Morehead State 1

[Darrell KSR]

Cats bring in the closer, Chris Machamer. Alec Maley's line wasn't very pretty, 1.0 inning, allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 earned run.

For you stat geeks, this is not a save opportunity for Machamer, but a chance to get some work and keep sharp for the weekend.

Machamer has thrown 25.2 innings this season, allowing only 16 hits, while fanning 28. He has a 2.10 ERA.

He will face 8-9-1 this inning, and if anyone reaches, # 2 batter, Niko Hulsizer. I'd rather him not bat again tonight.

Morehead will bring in a pinch hitter, a lefty-swinging Jordan Freese to face the fireballing righty. Freese with a .273 batting average on the season.

Machamer jumps ahead, 1-2, and strikes him out. Out # 1.

Another lefty to the plate, T. Niemann, batting .290, with Bryce Henson, the leadoff guy on deck.

There's a fly ball to CF, and two up, two down. Let's go ahead and end this one, Chris.

Infield popup, handled by Becker.

THAT'S A WINNER!

Kentucky wins the midweek game, 7-1 over powerful hitting Morehead State. That's two straight wins heading into a big weekend showdown with Missouri, with both teams 8-10 in SEC play, and Cats hoping for a big weekend in Lexington.

[catmanjack]

So this was the last mid week game of the year?

[Darrell KSR]

So this was the last mid week game of the year?

Yup. All conference games and postseason tournaments from here on out.

[catmanjack]

Thanks, that's what I thought.
Will the mid week losses hurt in seeding?

[kingcat]

Thanks for the updates.

[Darrell KSR]

Let me backtrack.

I just checked Kentucky's schedule, and I show two more out of conference games--one at Indiana, one at Murray State. So it looks like there are two more.

I am POSITIVE a Kentucky official said that Kentucky had no more midweek games. But I wonder if they meant no more HOME midweek games (they didn't say that).

In any event, to answer your question.

No, I don't think the midweek games will hurt one bit. In fact, they'll help. Kentucky is a sparkling 19-4 out of conference this year, against strong competition. That record will help.

Unfortunately, the SEC record will hurt. While 8-10, # 10 in the SEC isn't embarrassing, if Kentucky wants to play with the big boys and fight for a top 8 seed, we need to be fighting for top 4 status in the SEC.

Now, having said that--we are only 2 games out of 2nd place in the SEC, as crazy as that sounds. And I do think we can make a move, and this is the time of the year to do it.

We have a little mojo going with the Lewis win and this victory. Some pitching success and a little hitting.

Now we host a Missouri team next that isn't as good as us. Same record, but that's a series we should do very well in--especially if we get Zack Thompson back. Remember, when he went down, it had a domino effect--first, we lost our reliable # 2 weekend starter. Went 0-5 or 0-6 in that slot.

Next, it took our reliable midweek starter out and put him in the weekend. Hurt the midweek games as well.

I don't want to say that Kentucky can sweep this weekend, but I don't want to say they can't, either.

Next, we travel to Knoxville. Yes, UT won the series last weekend vs # 14 Texas A&M. But they aren't at the level of the other teams. We need to go there and win that series.

I'm hoping for 5-1 in the next two weeks, which would put us at 13-11 and pushing for that top 4 area.

We then finish with hosting a somewhat resurgent Miss. State team--will we get that team, or the one that struggled all year? In any event, I think we need to win that series, too. Say 2-1 there, and we're 15-12 headed to the final series.

That's on the road against perennial power Vanderbilt--who is a tad down this year. I think we need to win that series, too, and finish 17-13.

That's a tall task--that's going 9-3 the remaining four series. But I think Kentucky can do it, and hopefully will do it. There's no law that says we can't sweep a couple of series, either.

8-4 would put us 16-14, and that won't get us a top 8 seed. 9-3 might. 10-2 would.

JMO. And yes, SEC tournament **would** also change things a bit--would need to have some small success in it, regardless.