Despite a rally, UK falls to rival following late-game mistake

By Nick Craddock

All losses are hard to swallow, but UK’s 10-9 loss on Wednesday night to in-state rival Western Kentucky was a particularly jagged pill to take.

The Hilltoppers managed to pull ahead after hanging four runs in the eighth inning; the go-ahead 10th run coming via sophomore relief pitcher Logan Darnell’s balk.

“The ball hit the side of my glove, and I bobbled it,” Darnell said about the balk that proved to be the difference maker in the game. “It’s always tough to lose, I just have to forget about the balk going forward and take it one pitch at a time.”

The loss is the Cats (18-14, 4-8 Southeastern Conference) fourth in a row, having been swept by SEC foe Mississippi over the weekend. The game also marked the Cats’ first loss to Western Kentucky in the last four meetings after winning the previous three meetings between the two schools.

The Cats fell behind early, after starter Clint Tilford had a rough outing, giving up seven hits and four earned runs while striking out two in 2.2 innings of work.

“It was just one of those nights,” Tilford said. “They have some good hitters in their line-up and they took advantage of my mistakes.”

One of those mistakes led to Western’s Matt Hightower’ sixth home run of the season — a bomb over the right-field fence.

“Clint pitched really well last Wednesday,” UK head coach Gary Henderson said. “He was a bit up in the strike zone tonight.”

On the other hand, the Cats could not muster much offense off of opposing starting pitcher, Evan Teague, a player who usually comes out of the bullpen for the Hilltoppers.

However, with Cats down 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth and Teague long gone from the game, the bats came alive for the Cats as they managed to load the bases early. Eventually, they cashed in, taking their first lead of the game after a Gunner Glad two-run single.

Following right-fielder Spencer Korus’ strikeout, a Keenan Wiley RBI single pushed the lead to 9-6. Braden Kapetyn and Marcus Nidiffer struck out to end the inning, and the Cats offensive onslaught.

The seventh inning saw Kapetyn take the mound to pitch a perfect inning of relief.

Then, in the eighth inning, it all came undone. After Kapetyn gave up a lead-off double, a run-scoring single and hit a batter, he was yanked in favor of Darnell. Yet, Darnell could not stop the floodgates from opening, as Western first tied the game at 9-9, before the winning run scored on that critical balk.

The Cats could not respond by mounting their own challenge in the bottom of the ninth.

However, Henderson wants to keep the confidence up heading into this weekend’s critical series against SEC East leader and No. 3 Georgia (25-5, 8-4 SEC) he said.

“I’m looking for outstanding starting performances, competitive at-bats, and good defense,” Henderson said.