UK rolls over Florida in series opener

By Joshua Huff

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Four home runs, including a grand slam, showcased No. 19 UK baseball’s offensive capabilities in a 17-1 pounding of No. 12 Florida on Friday.

The win was the largest margin of victory for UK in SEC play in program history.

Midseason National Player of the Year A.J. Reed (6-1) held Florida (19-11, 6-4 SEC) to one hit through the first three innings as the Cats offense provided the run support.

Having  depth throughout the lineup has helped to calm Reed down and allow him to focus.

“It’s just reassuring to us as a defense and a pitching staff that we can have that depth of an offense that is going to score runs,” Reed said.

Reed pitched seven innings. He allowed five hits and tallied three strikeouts.

“He’s really good late in the count,” said UK head coach Gary Henderson. “Even the games where he doesn’t have his best stuff he’s able to compete and carry it in to the seventh and eighth inning.”

The Cats offense provided 17 runs in a 20-hit effort for Reed.  The game saw four home runs and also four doubles, two of which were from Reed, who went 3-for-4 from the plate with one RBI.

Junior Thomas Bernal continued his stellar play going 4-for-5 with two doubles and one RBI. Bernal has gone 7-for-9 with five RBI in the past two games. Senior Micheal Thomas, junior Austin Cousino and Max Kuhn each hit a home run. Cousino went 2-for-4 with four RBIs.  Thomas went 2-for-4 and added three RBIs.

Every player in the starting lineup recorded a hit.

Henderson is happy with what the Cats have accomplished up to this point.

“When things go well you do the basics well, when you don’t do well you’re not doing the basic things you know, and a lot of it is depending on the pitching you see,” Henderson said. “We did a nice job today of making them throw us strikes.”

UK (20-9, 5-5 SEC) will face Florida in the second of the three-game series Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cliff Hagan Stadium.