Two innings was all it took.

After allowing five unearned runs in the ninth inning of a loss to visiting Lipscomb one day prior, the UK baseball team (21-19, 6-12 Southeastern Conference) folded in a four-run loss to the visiting Evansville Purple Aces.

Evansville scored 11 runs in just two innings of work on a gorgeous Wednesday evening, taking the game from UK 11-7. The loss is the Cats’ second straight after winning three of their last four.

“You don’t see stuff like this coming midweek,” UK baseball head coach Gary Henderson said. “Clearly we did not play well at all last night in the ninth inning and we got two very poor pitching performances tonight and we were not able to overcome it.”

The rough day prior didn’t leave the stadium as the Cats began with a rough first inning. After striking out the first batter he faced, freshman right-handed pitcher Sean Bouthilette allowed back-to-back extra base hits, including a triple by designated hitter Greg Wallace. Two walks later, a single by Evansville shortstop Peter Tountas produced two runs as UK freshman left fielder Chad Wright had an errant throw to third baseman Andy Burns trying to pick off an Evansville runner. When the dust settled, visiting Evansville had the picture perfect start and UK was left with a rude awakening.

The Cats came back to tie the game at four in the bottom half of the third inning, but lost the game for good because of a seven-run fourth inning by Evansville.

“It took us out of the game,” Henderson said. “You give up seven runs in the fourth; it makes it extremely tough to come back. (We’re) very disappointed with that inning.”

Beginning with an infield single, the Purple Aces racked up six hits in the inning that saw two pitching changes. UK freshman right-handed pitcher Chase Greene entered the game for Bouthilette, inheriting runners on second and third with no outs. After Greene’s first pitch hit Evansville center fielder Jim Viscomi in the back of the head, third baseman Cody Fick rocketed a grand slam over the left field wall to double up the Cats 8-4. Evansville would tack on three more runs later in the inning, thanks in part to three wild pitches, and the lead was stretched to 11-4.

Senior right handed pitcher Jonathan Huff entered the game late in the fourth inning and retired the first two batters he faced to end the damage. After arriving at Cliff Hagan Stadium late from taking two engineering exams, Huff ended up going 3.2 innings, only allowing a single hit and striking out three batters.

“Jonathan Huff came in and threw amazing tonight,” sophomore shortstop Chris Wade said. “That was a big performance on his part and he shut them out for the most part.”

After allowing 36 runs total in the last three games, the Cats will look to their pitching staff to get back in the groove against Alabama this weekend. Henderson said the Cats just have to get back to the basics.

“It’s just the absolute basics,” Henderson said. “When you have a rough stretch, you haven’t invented new things to do wrong; you’re just not doing the basics well. That’s all that is.”

The Cats will look to put their past two games behind them and focus back on the SEC race with a three-game series in Tuscaloosa, Ala. against the Crimson Tide. Alabama sits in fourth place in the Western division, fighting to qualify for the SEC Tournament like the Cats.

“What we need to do against Alabama is get a very strong starting pitching performance on Friday night out of James Paxton,” Henderson said. “He needs to get us into the 7th or 8th inning. We need to play good defense. We need to keep our poise at the plate. It’ll be a great environment, it’ll be plenty challenging for us, but it really starts with our starting pitching performance and solid defense.”