Kentucky Blanked by Louisville in Front of Record Crowd
In front of a Kentucky baseball record of 5,292 fans, the Wildcats’ offense failed to show up.
Against a combined six Cardinal pitchers, the Bat ‘Cats mustered just four hits while leaving seven runners on base. After failing to build on Travis Smith’s gem of a start, Kentucky fell 7-0 to Louisville in the 114th edition of the Battle of the Bluegrass on Tuesday night at Kentucky Proud Park.
Smith pitched unquestionably his best outing of the season, racking up a season-high five innings and striking out a season-high eight batters. The Kentucky bullpen failed to build on this, however, giving up nine hits and six earned runs in four innings of relief. Not good. Not good at all.
“[Travis] has just been getting better every week and I hated that we couldn’t get the win for him,” head coach Nick Mingione said after the loss.
With the loss, Kentucky falls to 30-10 on the season. Tuesday night’s loss was brutal, as the ‘Cats now look forward to series against No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 3 South Carolina, No. 24 Tennessee and No. 4 Florida to close out the season. A midweek victory over the rival Cards would have provided a nice spark for the ‘Cats, but they now limp into an SEC gauntlet having lost seven of their last 10 games.
Cards Strike First
After striking out two of his first three batters faced in this one, Travis Smith allowed his first home run of the season in the top of the second inning.
The face of Louisville baseball, Jack Payton, ripped a 399-foot solo homer to right-center field, giving the Cards an early 1-0 lead. Smith responded nicely, however, striking out the next two batters faced. Four of Kentucky’s first five outs were by way of strikeouts. Topping out at 96 MPH, Smith looked good early.
Things began to go south for Smith in the third. After giving up a lead-off double to Logan Beard, Smith walked Isaac Humphrey and JT Benson to load the bases. With just one out and the bases loaded, the ‘Cats were in trouble. After Smith struck out Ryan McCoy to get to two outs, Jack Payton, who homered in the first inning, ripped a rocket to Hunter Gilliam at first. But Gilly made a phenomenal snag to end the inning and strand the bases loaded for the Red Birds.
Louisville Defense Flashes Leather
Through the first six innings of this one, the Louisville defense repeatedly shut down any Kentucky scoring opportunity.
After Émilien Pitre kicked off the fourth inning with a fly out to left field, “The Captain” Hunter Gilliam looked to tie this one up. Gilly got just under the pitch, sending it out to left field. South Oldham product JT Benson tracked it down and made a phenomenal grab, preventing Kentucky’s first XBH of the game.
Fast forward to the bottom of the sixth where the ‘Cats were threatening for the first time.
Nolan McCarthy led off the inning with a double to right center field, setting things up nicely with just one out. After a Jackson Gray walk, Ryan Waldschmidt stepped up to bat with runners on first and second. Waldschmidt sent one to deep center field before it was tracked down by Louisville’s Eddie King Jr, ending the inning and ensuring another brutal break for the ‘Cats.
Louisville Extends Lead in Seventh, Secures Shutout Win
After Ryan Hagenow pitched a great sixth inning in relief, Seth Logue took over in the seventh (a puzzling decision to say the least).
Logue gave up three consecutive singles, with the third from Isaac Humphrey driving in a Cardinal run. His day was quickly over. Evan Byers forced a groundout and was immediately pulled, as Mingione saw Austin Strickland as a better option to finish out the inning.
After finishing off Byers’ 3-2 count with a strikeout, Hagenow threw a wild pitch that brought in another Louisville run. Following a walk of Ryan McCoy, Jack Payton blooped a single to right center field to drive in yet another Cardinal run. After their three-run inning, the Cards led 4-0 midway through seven.
The ‘Cats failed to respond in the bottom of the inning, leading to Louisville extending their lead in the top of the eighth. After Brandon Anderson and Isaac Humphrey singled to kick off the inning, Gavin Kilen rocketed a double to left center to drive in two more Louisville runs. It was at this point that Kentucky’s record crowd began to file out in droves.
Lexington’s own Tyeler Hawkins drilled the dagger into the heart of Kentucky fans, belting a first pitch, pinch-hit home run to extend the lead to seven. Tate Kuehner finished things off for Louisville, securing the 7-0 shutout victory.
The ‘Cats will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Nashville for a weekend series with No. 4 Vanderbilt. First pitch for Friday’s game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST.
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