Kentucky baseball and its relentless offense defeated the Ole Miss Rebels by a score of 17-9 on Saturday.
A huge part of the offensive outburst was Nolan McCarthy, who dominated at the plate, finishing 3-6 with two home runs and six RBIs. The hits, home runs and RBIs were all career-highs for McCarthy.
After a scoreless first on offense, the Rebels jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom half before McCarthy stepped up to the plate for his first at-bat with the bases loaded and singled to score Nick Lopez. Later in the second, with the bases still loaded, Grant Smith drew a walk to bring home Daly and tie the game 2-2.
The Cats wasted no time getting back to scoring in the third inning when Lopez singled to bring home Émilien Pitre and break the tie. Then, after a sacrifice bunt advanced Lopez and Devin Burkes, the latter came home to score after a UK strikeout and give it a 4-2 lead.
The third inning also saw McCarthy return to the plate where he launched a two-run home run to give the Cats a 6-2 lead.
The Cats plated another run in the fourth when Pitre hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Ryan Waldschmidt.
The Rebels had a four-run bottom of the fourth that brought the score to 7-6, however this score did not hold as James McCoy hit a two-run opposite-field home run to bring home McCarthy and extend the lead to 9-6.
Ole Miss plated a lone run in the bottom half of the fifth but Kentucky didn’t relent as, after Lopez and Nicholson reached in the sixth, McCarthy hit a three-run bomb over the right field wall for his second homer of the game.
Later in the inning, Waldschmidt singled to bring home McCoy, which extended the Cats’ lead to 13-7.
The Wildcats cooled down for two innings while the Rebels only gained one run going into the ninth, which Pitre led off with the fourth Big Blue Bomb of the day and his second of the series.
Nicholson grounded into a bases-loaded double play, but Burkes still managed to score before McCarthy struck out in his final at-bat. Despite going down on the count, the Rebels’ catcher dropped the ball and was unable to make a clean throw to first, allowing McCarthy to reach first and Lopez home.
Smith then singled to bring home McCarthy and bring the score to 17-8 before the Rebels plated one in the bottom of ninth to reach the 17-9 final score.
McCarthy finished with six RBIs and scored four times, both of which were career highs. The 18 hits and 17-runs were both season-highs for the team.
With the win, the Wildcats took the series and will play for the sweep in game three on Sunday, March 31, with first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET.
