UK baseball to face Xavier on Wednesday
March 26, 2014
STAFF REPORT
UK baseball welcomes Xavier University on Wednesday in a midweek clash.
Fresh off a 2-1 series win against the No. 1 University of South Carolina, No. 19 UK (17-7, 3-3 SEC) takes the mound against an Xavier team that is in the midst of a three-game losing streak.
Though the Cats lost the last game Sunday in a three-game series against the Gamecocks, two wins gave UK the series and its third victory over a top-ranked team this year.
The other top win came against the No.1 University of Virginia in the Cats’ season opener.
The series win over South Carolina was the third all-time against a No. 1 team, according to UK Athletics.
UK’s offense and pitching were the deciding factors in UK’s wins. The Cats posted 13 runs Friday against the No. 1 pitching staff in the country and held on 2-1 on Saturday behind the dominant pitching of junior Chandler Shepherd (5-0). Shepherd has allowed an earned run average of 0.90 over his last four starts.
Offensively, the Cats are led by the SEC Player of the Week, senior catcher Micheal Thomas. Thomas hit .412 over the weekend with two homeruns and six runs batted in. Overall, Thomas has hit .416 with five homeruns and 28 RBI.
UK will face off against a struggling Xavier team that is coming off of a series loss to the University of Illinois.
Xavier (12-10) started the year 4-0 but has struggled with consistency. Senior Tres Eberhardt leads the team with 22 runs. Senior Vinny Nittoli (3-1) is the Musketeers’ ace with a 1.20 ERA and 22 strikeouts in five starts.
The Musketeers will be facing the nation’s No. 1 offense. The Cats have driven in 222 runs in 24 games and will look to add to that total Wednesday when Xavier comes to Lexington, where the Cats are 11-2.
The first pitch is Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
