Recap: Walk-off Grand Slam Powers No. 13 Kentucky to 6-2 Victory, Series Win

Riley Mahan, via UK Athletics.

It's been a crazy year of comeback baseball at The Cliff. In yet another late-inning victory, Gary Henderson and the No. 13 Kentucky Wildcats (22-8, 8-3) clinched their fourth-straight SEC series in grand fashion, with a Riley Mahan no-doubter to right that pushed the Batcats to a 6-2 victory over Alabama (18-13, 5-6). Let's get to the box score and some notes from the W.

 Kentucky:

Hitting:

Pitching:

 Alabama:

Hitting:

Pitching:

 Bad news first. Senior RHP Dustin Beggs had his streak of seven straight wins broken on Saturday afternoon. It wasn't a bad afternoon for the starter, he gave the Cats seven innings of four-hit baseball. The only run Beggs allowed was unearned, after a string of errors allowed the Alabama run to cross the plate in the top of the third, and he struck out ten Crimson Tide batters on the afternoon. Tough break that the offense wasn't able to get things going behind the starter, but I'm sure Beggs isn't too upset with another series win, either. A quiet 13-hit afternoon for the Kentucky lineup. The ninth inning grand slam padded the scoreboard and stat book after the team couldn't bring across but two runs through eight innings. Three Cats had multi-hit games, but it took a balk by Alabama's Jake Walters and the late-inning heroics we've been so accustomed to seeing as of late for Gary Henderson's club lock up the series win. It would have be more frustrating recap if the lineup didn't show as much life as it did this afternoon - and if they would have lost the game. Cardiac Cats. The team had to result to small-ball to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Luke Becker opened the frame with a single, was advanced to second by a Mahan sacrifice bunt (one of his three bunt attempts of the afternoon), and scored when Kole Cottam beat out an infield single. After Sean Hjelle allowed a two-out, game tying home run in the top of the ninth (the first run allowed in the freshman's career), the team responded with back to back singles from JaVon Shelby and Gunnar McNeill, an intentional walk to Zach Reks after McNeill stole second to load the bases, and a one-out grand slam from Riley Mahan to send the Wildcat faithful home happy.   That'll do it for today. The Batcats will turn to Kyle Cody for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at Cliff Hagan stadium. Check out the highlights from today's wild win below, and stay tuned to KSR for all the updates and a recap of tomorrow's action.  Highlights: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp1AuSJBxvQ#action=share[/embed] @brooksHoltonKSR