Kentucky downs Missouri 7-6 on Sunday to take series
For the second consecutive season, Kentucky opened SEC play with back-to-back series victories with a 7-6 win over Missouri on Sunday.
Missouri pulled within one with runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth, but they were unable to tie the game.
Nick Lopez and Ryan Nicholson led the way for the Cats with two hits apiece. Nicholson blasted his team-leading fourth home run of the season in the fourth inning.
Wildcat pitching dominated the Tigers, finishing with 14 total strikeouts on the day.
Kentucky improves to 20-4 (5-1) on the season with the win. The Cats remain the lone SEC East team with just one loss in conference play.
Longball propels Missouri to early lead
After scoring just one run in Saturday’s 2-1 loss, the Cats went down in order to open Sunday’s contest. This gave Missouri a chance to jump out to an early lead, and that they did.
Mason Moore opened the game with a forced flyout, but ran into Mizzou third baseman Trevor Austin. Austin, who had hit seven home runs this season, took Moore’s first pitch of the at-bat deep to right center field for a solo home run. Austin’s long ball was just Moore’s fourth allowed home run of the season.
That was all for the Tiger offense however, as they took a 1-0 lead through one.
Kentucky bats wake up in second
The Wildcat offense finally woke up in the second inning however, scoring three runs on three hits.
Nick Lopez opened the inning with a break from the Missouri defense, as shortstop Drew Culbertson lost Lopez’s shallow pop-up to left field in the wind. Lopez reached second on the error, eventually advancing to third on a Devin Burkes groundout.
Ryan Nicholson reached first on an infield single, putting runners on the corners for the red-hot Nolan McCarthy. McCarthy, who entered Sunday with a seven-game hitting streak, lined an RBI-single to right field to drive in Kentucky’s first run of the game. The redshirt junior extended his hitting streak to eight games with the single.
Grant Smith tacked on two more Wildcat runs, sneaking a single into left field to drive in Nicholson and McCarthy. For the first time in the last seven innings of play, Kentucky held a lead. That lead wouldn’t last long however.
Mason Moore roughed up by Tigers (literally)
For the first time this season, Mason Moore allowed more than two earned runs in an outing.
After pulling ahead 3-1, the Tigers scored three unanswered runs to take a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the third inning.
Trailing 3-2, Mizzou’s Jedier Hernandez drove a sharp liner up the middle, which was able to score baserunner Jackson Beaman from second. Moore circled behind Devin Burkes at home for the backup, but collided with Beaman as the runner crossed home plate. The collision looked nasty, but Moore ended up being okay.
“He’s good, he’s a tough kid,” head coach Nick Mingione said on the SEC broadcast about Moore. “It’s almost like he took a charge in basketball or something.”
The junior right-handed pitcher lasted five innings, allowing five hits and four earned runs while striking out four batters.
Cats reclaim lead on Burkes double
The Bat Cats fell behind 4-3 following the third inning, but a Ryan Nicholson solo home run knotted things back up at four apiece in the top of the fourth.
Nicholson’s Big Blue Bomb was his fourth of the season, which leads the team.
The game remained tied at 4-4 until the top of the sixth inning, when Kentucky finally put Mizzou in the dirt.
Nick Lopez led off the sixth with a single up the middle, putting a runner on first for Devin Burkes. Burkes, who has been struggling lately, delivered with a double off the left field wall. The ball ricocheted to the right of Missouri left fielder Isaiah Frost, allowing Lopez to score all the way from first base.
Nick Mingione will need Burkes to really get going if the Cats want to host another Regional in Lexington. The Cats go when Burkes go.
A one-run lead wasn’t enough, so Kentucky scored two more to pad their lead to three.
Nolan McCarthy layed a nice bunt down the third base line, forcing a wild throw to first from Mizzou pitcher Ian Lohse. McCarthy collided with first baseman Danny Corona, allowing Burkes to score from third. After no collisions all season for Kentucky, two occurred on Sunday in CoMo. Not a good sight.
They tacked on one final run with a James McCoy RBI sac-fly, taking a 7-4 lead through six.
Kentucky holds on for series victory
It took five pitchers to finish out the final four innings (LHP Evan Byers, RHP Cameron O’Brien, LHP Jackson Nove, RHP Cooper Robinson, and RHP James McCoy), but the Cats got it done. Robinson allowed a run in the ninth to cut it to a one-run game, but McCoy entered from right field and forced a foul out to hold on to the victory.
With the hold, James McCoy earned his first career save.
The Bat Cats will be back in action on Tuesday, when they host Miami (OH) at home in Lexington. First pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. EST.
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