SEVEN-RUN SIXTH POWERS #24 KENTUCKY PAST EVANSVILLE, 11-3
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The nationally-ranked University of Kentucky Wildcats exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on Tuesday night to snap a 3-3 tie and power to an 11-3 victory over the visiting University of Evansville baseball team at Kentucky Pride Park in Lexington, Kentucky.
“One bad inning let things get away from us tonight,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “When you play a team like UK, you can’t give up as many freebies as we did in that inning, and then they delivered some barrels and made us pay.
“It’s unfortunate, because I feel like we spoiled a great start from Kevin Reed tonight. It was great to see him get back to his fall, preseason form, as he did a great job of mixing pitches and locations for us, and really kept them off-balance for the most part.”
The first four innings were a pitcher’s duel between Evansville starter Kevin Reed and UK starter Drew Lafferty. Reed held UK scoreless through the first four innings, while allowing just one hit. Evansville finally broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with three runs to take a 3-0 lead. Graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger roped an RBI double off the wall in right field, before graduate third baseman Brent Widder launched his team-leading sixth home run of the year to left-center field to give UE a 3-0 lead.
The lead would be short-lived though, as UK answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game. Then, the Wildcats sent 11 men to the plate and scored seven runs on just four base hits in the sixth inning to grab a lead it would never lose. The Wildcats added an unearned run in the eighth inning to provide the final margin of victory.
Senior first baseman Kip Fougerousse paced the UE attack by going 2-for-4, while Widder drove in two runs with a home run and Shallenberger extended his on-base streak to 36-straight games dating back to last year by going 1-for-3 with a double, a run scored, an RBI and a hit-by-pitch. UK out-hit Evansville, 9-8, in the contest. UK second baseman Emilien Pitre paced the Wildcat offense by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI.
With the victory, UK runs its winning streak to six straight games and improves to 18-3 overall. Evansville, meanwhile, falls to 9-11 overall with the loss. The Purple Aces will return home to German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium on Friday night to open Missouri Valley Conference play against Murray State. First-pitch of the series is set for 6 p.m.
