Ryan Ritter Fuels Kentucky to an 11-7 Victory at No. 7 Louisville

by:Brent Wainscott•04/06/21

Ukathletics

The last time Kentucky and Louisville faced off on the diamond, the ‘Cats lost by 12 runs as Louisville capped off a season sweep. Tonight, a young star emerged as the Bat Cats flip the script on the Cards, beating seventh-ranked Louisville on the road 11-7.Ahead of tonight’s matchup, sophomore shortstop, Ryan Ritter had six RBIs on the entire season. Tonight? Ritter gets six RBIs in his first two at-bats, fueling the Wildcats to a hot start that would dictate tonight’s game. After Kentucky stranded a runner in scoring position in the 1st inning, Ritter, batting out of the nine-hole, made sure to cash in with a three-run home run with one out in the 2nd to put UK up 3-0 early.

The Dirty Birds scratched across three runs to even up in the bottom half of the 2nd, but Ritter made sure to respond yet again, this time with a bases-clearing double to put the ‘Cats up 6-3 in the bottom half of the 3rd. Ritter’s double would ignite a five-run 3rd inning with the help of a T.J. Collett double that put Kentucky up 8-3 going into the 4th.

Ritter accounted for eight of Kentucky’s first nine runs (6 RBIs and three runs). Oh, and the kid can flash some leather too.

If Ryan Ritter wasn’t proof enough, capitalizing on opportunities early in the game was the story tonight. Through the first five innings, Kentucky was 4-7 with RISP with 10 runs to boot.  Meanwhile, Louisville, a team that ranks inside the top 25 in batting average, was a putrid 1-12 with RISP.

Despite the poor performance with RISP, the high-octane Louisville offense was still able to get theirs, scoring six runs through the first six innings, to make it a 10-6 ballgame through six.

Kentucky would score one more in the 8th on an error to put the Cats up five heading into the ninth and Kentucky would need every single last one of those runs.

With one out in the ninth, Louisville scored a run to make 11-7 and put two runners in scoring position in the process. The tying run was on deck when Kentucky turned to Hunter Rigsby and Rigsby put away the final two batters to cap off an 11-7 victory for the Wildcats. It’s Kentucky’s first victory in the 502 for the first time since 2014.

Along with Ritter, T.J. Collett, Coltyn Kessler, Trae Harmon, and Oraj Anu had multi-hit games as well. Collett and Kessler combined for three RBIs on the day. Austin Schultz accounted for the other RBI in Kentucky’s 11-run performance.

It’s never a banner day when your team finishes with a 6.75 ERA, but a win is a win, and despite only sitting down two batters, Sean Harney walks away with his second victory of the year.

Kentucky improves to 19-7 (5-4) on the year, and they will host LSU at Kentucky Proud Park as they look to bounce back from a weekend series sweep. First pitch of the three-game weekend series is set for Friday at 6:30 pm ET.

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2024-04-28