While he may not have earned a decision in the game, Mason Moore delivered when Kentucky baseball needed him in game three against the Florida Gators on Sunday.
After the Wildcats dropped game two, Moore found himself pitching in his third straight series-deciding game three.
Moore entered the game looking to build off of a bounce-back performance at home against Arkansas.
After taking his warmup tosses, Moore forced three groundouts in a three-up, three-down first inning.
In the top of the second, Moore’s offense gave him three runs to work with and he returned to the mound and tossed another three-up, three-down frame, this time via a groundout, strikeout and a fly out.
In the bottom of the third, Moore gave up his first hit of the afternoon to Hayden Yost, who singled down the right field line, but James McCoy threw him out trying to stretch it to a double.
Moore struck out the next batter before walking two straight and Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione intentionally walked Jac Caglianone to load the bases.
With a 3-2 count on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Moore threw a change up down and away to righty Luke Heyman for a swing-and-miss strikeout to end the inning and escape the jam.
Moore returned to form in the fourth by getting a fly-out and two groundouts in a three-up, three-down inning.
The fifth was no different for Moore as he struck out two batters and got a groundout for his second straight three-up, three-down frame.
The righty continued to stay in rhythm in the sixth by tossing his third straight three-up, three-down inning in which the outs came via a groundout, fly-out and a line-out.
Tyler Shelnut broke up a streak of 11 straight Gators sat down by Moore in the bottom of the seventh with a one-out single to center on the eighth pitch of the at bat.
Moore struck out Brody Donay for the second out before he walked Yost. Now at 104 pitches, Kentucky pitching coach Dan Roszel came to the mound to talk to his starter.
Ashton Wilson came off the bench and worked a 3-2 count against Moore and won the at-bat on the sixth pitch by doubling down the right field line to bring home both runners, which made the score 3-2 Wildcats.
The double knocked Moore out of the game at 110 pitches, but his effort certainly gave the Wildcats all they could ask for with the series on the line.
Moore will look to continue to build on back-to-back strong performances in his last regular season start against Vanderbilt at Kentucky Proud Park.
