Nic McCay delivered a masterful performance as Kentucky baseball (2-1) bested Belmont (0-5) by a score of 2-1.
The game got off to an eventful start as Luke Lawrence drew a leadoff walk for the Bat Cats and quickly stole second before advancing to third on an error by the pitcher.
Raphael Pelletier hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Lawrence to give the Cats an early lead.
The 1-0 advantage was short lived as Pete Daniel tagged McCay for a leadoff triple and scored on a passed ball to even the game at 1-1.
The early run did not phase the righty as he came out in the second and posted a three-up, three-down frame.
McCay was back on the mound quickly after his offense went down in order and he hit the first two batters of the inning.
Now in his second jam of the outing, McCay buckled down and rolled a ground ball that Lawrence fired to Tyler Bell, who sent it over to James McCoy at first for the double play. However, Cade Batchelor advanced to third.
With the go-ahead run just 90-feet away, McCay got a flyout to end the inning unscathed.
The Wildcats broke into the hit column and got some traction in the fourth with a double from Cole Hage and a one out walk from Shaun Montoya, but it was halted by a frame-ending double play off the bat of Patrick Herrera.
McCay ran into trouble by giving up a leadoff single. However, he got two quick outs, but made things harder on himself by sailing a pickoff throw, allowing Ty Allen to advance to third.
It was all for naught as McCay rolled another ground ball to remain scoreless.
Bell broke into the hit column for the first time in his college career and advanced to third on a ground out and flyout. Will Marcy was unable to break the tie as the Bat Cats’ offense continued to miss the big hit.
McCay did not let the lack of offensive production fault his outing as he struck out the side in the fifth.
The offense came through in the sixth as Herrera delivered a single to right center that scored Lawrence and gave Kentucky a 2-1 advantage.
McCay returned to the mound in the sixth and pitched a three-up, three-down inning with a groundout, flyout and a strikeout in what would be his final inning of the night.
The righty finished with six innings in which he struck out seven and walked zero batters. The lone run on his ledger was unearned, meaning he has still not given up a run in his 11 innings with Kentucky.
Jackson Nove relieved McCay and tossed two scoreless innings in which he struck out six straight batters.
Simon Gregersen came on and finished out the game on the hill, earning the save.
McCay was credited the win in the ball game.
With the win, the Wildcats will look to win the series in game two against the Bruins on Saturday, Feb. 22, with first pitch set for 2 p.m. ET.
