Offense stalls after weekend outburst
April 9, 2014
By Kevin Erpenbeck
Unusually, unexpectedly and in an untimely manner, UK’s bats froze against Morehead State.
To make matters worse, they froze against an opposing pitcher who had a 6.60 earned run average.
For a UK team defined by its powerful offense, the Cats underperformed against a pitcher they should have had no problem with.
But Morehead and its junior pitcher Luke Schneider stifled and stunned UK for most of the game.
“We didn’t command the strike zone very well today,” said UK head coach Gary Henderson. “We offered at a lot of balls up that we usually take.”
Schneider pitched five innings of one-hit baseball against the Cats before a 90-minute rain delay. Schneider returned after the delay to record one more out before leaving the game.
The temporary weather delay gave the Cats a glimmer of hope to pull out the victory, as the Eagles made errors late in the game. But even with the free runs handed to them, the Cats couldn’t muster up much more of an offense on their own, collecting four more hits in a 6-4 loss.
Without its usual dynamic offense, UK couldn’t undo its shortcomings on the mound. Sophmore Ryne Combs gave up three runs and five hits in just three innings of work.
The poor showing couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Cats. They’re in the thick of a congested SEC race and could use any boost of confidence they can get before they face another conference foe.
Instead, they took a shot to the mouth from a non-conference opponent, lowering their confidence just before they face Missouri on Friday.
Granted, Missouri is not exactly a threat to UK, as the Tigers are dead last in the conference and the only SEC team with a sub .500 record. Add on the fact that they have to face UK at Cliff Hagan Stadium, and the threat of the Tigers is even less.
But the home field advantage did nothing for the Cats against Morehead. It will spell trouble for them if they see another home loss against Missouri.
UK can only hope that an abnormal performance like this is just a rare occurrence on the season, rather than let it become a precursor of things to come.
