Kentucky baseball (16-3 2-0 SEC) slugged its way past the Georgia Bulldogs (17-3 0-2 SEC) by a score of 9-3 on Saturday.
The Wildcat offense remained hot from its game one win as Ryan Waldschmidt led off the first with a single. With Devin Burkes getting on base, Nick Lopez hit a sacrifice fly to score Waldschmidt and Mitchell Daly singled to bring home Burkes to give the Cats a 2-0 lead after one inning.
“They have a bunch of guys who can put it out of the park, so going up early and having some room to work with is always nice,” Dominic Niman said.
Burkes then singled in the second inning to bring home Reuben Church and extended the lead to 3-0.
The Wildcats returned to the scoreboard in the fifth when Ryan Nicholson doubled to score Daly and Lopez, giving the Cats a five-run cushion.
In the sixth, Emilien Pitre singled to score Waldschmidt before the Bulldogs cut the lead in half in the seventh.
In response, Nolan McCarthy led off the eighth with a single before coming home quickly as James McCoy crushed a home run to bring home the two runs.
“Just a really talented player,” Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said of McCoy. “Just waited his turn and he was ready for the opportunity.”
Waldschmidt followed this up with a home run of his own to bring the score to 9-3 Wildcats, which it would remain at the end.
On the pitching side, Niman started and held the Bulldogs scoreless through six innings.
In the seventh, he ran into trouble with runners getting into scoring position with just one out. Niman struck out Josh Stinson for the second out before hitting Corey Collins to load the bases.
He then allowed a walk for a run before Slate Alford singled to bring home two more Bulldogs.
Jackson Nove came on in relief and dominated the Bulldogs as he stayed on and pitched the remaining two innings of play, securing the series victory for the Wildcats.
“He’s all over the strike zone with multiple pitches,” Mingione said. “His tempo is unbelievable, and he’s on the attack. That’s Jackson Nove at his best.”
Niman earned the win, improving his record to 4-1 on the season while Nove earned his second save of the season.
“This is what I wanted,” Niman said. “The fans were here, it was just an awesome environment. That’s what I came here for.”
The Wildcats will go for the series sweep on Sunday, March 17, when they take on Georgia in the final game of the three-game series with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
