Kentucky baseball stayed true to its DNA in a game one victory over the Ole Miss Rebels by a score of 5-3.
At their core, the Wildcats are a team that puts pressure on the opposing defenses to make plays and takes advantage of errors.
Meanwhile, on the pitching side, the Cats pride themselves on being able to pitch their way out of jams when they present themselves.
This came to fruition when the Wildcats found themselves with two runners on in the top of the third after Grant Smith singled and Ryan Waldschmidt walked.
Émilien Pitre hit a ground ball and Ole Miss shortstop Luke Hill sailed the throw over the first baseman’s head which allowed Smith to come home and give the Cats a 1-0 lead.
Moving to the top of the sixth in what was a 1-1 game, Waldschmidt singled to leadoff the inning and advanced to second on a Pitre groundout before Devin Burkes laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced Waldschmidt to third. The Rebels intentionally walked Nick Lopez to bring runners to the corners.
With the added pressure of a runner at third, Ole Miss starter Riley Maddox yanked an off-speed pitch, allowing Waldschmidt to sprint home and give the Cats a 2-1 lead.
Then, after Mitchell Daly was hit by a pitch, Ryan Nicholson hit a hard ground ball into the shift and the Rebels’ second baseman threw the ball high, which allowed Lopez to come home from second.
Following the error, Mason Nichols relieved Maddox and inherited runners on second and third. Nolan McCarthy then showed bunt on the first pitch before pulling back, which saw the ball go under the glove of the catcher for a wild pitch that saw Daly come home and extend the Cats’ lead to 4-1.
The final scoring play from the Bat Cats came via a Big Blue Bomb off the bat of Pitre in the top of the eighth that made the score 5-3 Wildcats.
On the other side of the ball, the first jam of the night for the pitching staff came in the bottom of the sixth after Jackson Nove relieved starter Trey Pooser in a 4-3 game with two down.
Nove hit Bo Gatlin and walked Judd Utermark but, with the go-ahead run on base, struck out Brayden Randle to end the inning and maintain the Cats’ lead.
After two scoreless innings in relief, Travis Smith walked Randle to leadoff the bottom of the ninth, which caused head coach Nick Mingione to call on Johnny Hummel to try and close out the game.
On the fourth pitch of his outing, Hummel spiked a pitch that advanced Randle to second before pitching a fly-out and walking Andrew Fischer and Jackson Ross to load the bases.
With the tying run on second and the winning run on first, Hummel pitched a fly-out for the second out before Ethan Groff stepped up to the plate with the game on the line and battled him to a 3-2 count.
With the runners in motion, meaning a base hit would almost guarantee a tie game and a ball deep enough could result in a triumph walk-off win for the Rebels, Hummel fired the ball home, getting Groff out in front of the pitch for a ground ball to Daly, who fielded it and fired it across the diamond to Nicholson to secure the game one victory.
While not great for the faint of heart, the jams and unorthodox methods of scoring runs are all part of just another day at the ballpark for Kentucky baseball.
The Wildcats will go for the series victory in game two against the Rebels on Saturday, Mar. 31, with first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET.
