Transfers delivered on the mound and at the plate as Kentucky baseball (1-0) mercy ruled Lipscomb (0-1) by a score of 11-0 in seven innings.
The shutout marks the first for the Wildcats in a season opener since 2006.
Cole Hage and Nic McCay shined in their Wildcat debuts.
McCay dominated in his first inning as a Wildcat, just needing 10 pitches to retire the side. Hage singled in his first at-bat in the second inning.
Later in the inning, Patrick Herrera reached on an infield single that scored Hage and gave Kentucky a 1-0 lead.
McCay appeared to be heading for an easy second with two quick outs before a walk, hit and error loaded the bases.
The righty made quick work of Brady Miller by striking him out to escape the danger.
His offense rewarded him in the third by getting two quick baserunners with no outs. However, back-to-back outs almost squandered the scoring opportunity.
Hage cashed-in on the scoring opportunity by launching a 399-foot home run over the right center field wall to give Kentucky a 4-0 lead.
McCay responded on the mound with a three-up, three-down third inning of work.
Transfers Raphael Pelletier and Luke Lawrence manufactured a run as Pelletier doubled and was advanced to third by a Herrera sacrifice bunt before Lawrence singled to score Pelletier.
McCay made it five straight outs to kick off the fourth before surrendering a single and walk. However, they were voided by a strikeout by McCay to end the inning.
Hage kicked off the fifth inning with a single for his third hit of the day. James McCoy and Pelletier walked to load the bases.
Herrera and Lawrence delivered consecutive singles that brought home Hage, McCoy and Pelletier.
The scoring was not done for Kentucky as Shaun Montoya reached on an error that brought home Herrera.
Tyler Bell capped off the offensive onslaught with a sacrifice fly that brought home Lawrence and extended the Cats’ lead to 10-0.
The bottom half of the fifth opened with an error, but McCay retired the next three batters in order to end the inning.
The four batters McCay faced in the fifth were his final of the day as he finished five strong innings, only allowing two hits and two walks while striking out four batters.
McCoy finished the scoring with an RBI single that scored Hage to make the score 11-0.
McCay was awarded the win in the mercy rule defeat.
Kentucky finished with 13 hits on the day, led by Hage, who finished with four hits.
The Bat Cats will have around 30 minutes to rest before they are right back in action for game two of the double header against Lipscomb with first pitch slated for shortly after 4 p.m. ET.
