Dominic Niman tossed a complete game shutout in No. 17 Kentucky baseball’s (26-4 10-1 SEC) 7-0 series-clinching victory over No. 13 Alabama (22-9 4-7 SEC) on Saturday.
The lefty became the first Wildcat to toss a complete game shutout since 2019 when current St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Zack Thompson did so.
“Today was awesome, that feels great just getting a win for the guys,” Niman said.
The game began with Niman plunking Gage Miller before he was quickly erased by a double play and Ian Petrutz flew out to end the frame.
The Wildcat offense scratched an early run across for Niman as Devin Burkes hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Ryan Waldschmidt which gave the Cats a 1-0 advantage.
“That’s huge,” Niman said about the offense giving him an early lead. “It gives you the ability to just attack the zone and have (them) get themselves out.”
Niman made quick work of the Tide by tossing back-to-back three-up, three-down innings in the second and third.
“When he just continues to pound the zone, it’s hard for them to get anything going,” Waldschmidt said.
After quick innings on defense, Niman’s teammates rewarded him with runs in the bottom of the third as Waldschmidt hit a two-run opposite field home run that extended the lead to 3-0 Cats.
After getting two quick outs in the fourth, Petrutz tagged Niman for a single and ended his streak of 10 straight batters retired, but he was unphased as he forced Evan Sleight to fly out for the third out.
The fifth inning mirrored the fourth as Mason Swinney hit a two-out single but, this time, Niman struck out Will Hodo to end the frame.
Niman tossed a nine pitch three-up, three-down sixth, allowing his offense another opportunity to add to its lead.
“So efficient,” Mingione said. “So many innings where he’s just ramming the ball in the strike zone and just letting his defense work.”
The offense delivered for Niman with a four-run inning that came to be via a Nolan McCarthy single, a James McCoy double and a two-run opposite field home run off the bat of Grant Smith, which made the score 7-0 Bat Cats.
Petrutz led off the seventh with a double and became the first runner in scoring position against Niman, but this still didn’t break his rhythm whatsoever as he forced three fly outs in seven pitches to leave the runner stranded.
“I didn’t know what my pitch count was, but I felt like it was low and I felt like I had a lot of energy left,” Niman said.
The lone runner stranded was the last base runner for Alabama as Niman tossed three-up, three-down innings in the eighth and ninth to complete the shutout by sitting down nine straight hitters.
Niman finished the game with an economical 100 pitches thrown in which he struck out seven batters, surrendered no walks and only gave up three hits.
“That’s the biggest thing for us as a team is if we can limit giving them free passes, it’s going to be hard to beat us,” Waldschmidt said.
With the win, Niman extended his record to 6-2 on the season.
“He is an uber competitive dude,” Mingione said. “I told him, “That’s what a dog looks like.’”
With the series victory secured, the Wildcats will go for the sweep in the series finale against Alabama on Sunday, April 6, with first pitch scheduled for noon ET.
