A relentless offensive approach propelled No. 8 Kentucky baseball (35-10, 18-6 SEC) to a 7-4 series-clinching win over No. 2 Arkansas (40-9, 17-7 SEC).
“When we’re at our best we’re scoring and we’re doing a bunch of different things and today was no different,” Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said.
The series victory over the Razorbacks was the Wildcats’ first in over a decade.
“There was never a doubt that we were gonna come back and win the next two games,” Nick Lopez said.
Émilien Pitre opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a home run over the right field wall, which gave the Bats Cats a 1-0 lead.
After both offenses were held scoreless in the second, Devin Burkes drew a one-out walk and was quickly brought home on a Lopez home run that extended the Wildcats’ lead to 3-0.
“I’ve been struggling right-handed a little bit, so coming up clutch for the boys, that was huge,” Lopez said.
The Wildcats continued the offensive production in the fourth after Nolan McCarthy led off with a double and advanced to third on a James McCoy groundout. This brought up Grant Smith, who laid down a sacrifice bunt and McCarthy was able to beat the throw home to score safely.
The inning continued after Ryan Waldschmidt doubled down the right field line, which advanced Smith to third. Pitre followed this up with a double of his own to left center that scored Smith.
Burkes brought home Waldschmidt on a sacrifice fly which capped off a three-run inning for the Bat Cats, who led 6-0.
Mason Moore started the game for Kentucky and pitched four scoreless frames before running into some trouble in the fifth as Wehiwa Aloy hit an RBI single to score Hudson White.
The Razorbacks plated another run off of Moore in the fifth after Jared Sprague-Lott hit a sacrifice fly to score Peyton Stovall, which cut the Wildcat lead to 6-2.
The scoring picked back up in the seventh when Kendall Diggs singled off of Jackson Nove to bring home Stovall which thinned the Cats’ lead further.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Lopez hit a one-out single and, after a foul out, Ryan Nicholson singled up the middle and advanced Lopez to third before a slight bobble by Peyton Holt resulted in Lopez going home instead. He outran the Razorback relay to give the Cats a 7-3 lead.
“I saw coach just point and I just automatically went when I saw that,” Lopez said. “We call that attacking offense, just looking to do whatever it takes.”
In the top of the ninth, Stovall tagged Cameron O’Brien for a home run, which brought the score 7-4. Following the homer, Mingione called upon his closer Johnny Hummel to try to finish out the game.
After striking out Aloy for the first out, Hummel hit Ben McLaughlin and walked Sprague-Lott to bring up the tying run.
Hummel worked his way out of trouble by getting two flyouts to secure the game and series victory.
“They’re the number two team in the country for a reason,” Mingione said. “You gotta beat them twice and we ended up doing it and that’s no easy task.”
The Wildcats return to action on Tuesday, May 7, when they will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio, for a matchup against Xavier with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
