Kentucky baseball (9-1) took advantage of pitching mishaps to complete the series sweep of Hofstra (3-7) by a score of 9-1.
“We are very versatile and everything we do is for each other,” Ethan Hindle said. “Our ability to stay in the box and just get what we can done for the next person is huge for our offense.”
The Bat Cats took advantage of seven walks and seven hit-by-pitches in the game by Hofstra pitching. Kentucky also tied its record for most steals in a game since 2010 with eight.
The Wildcats manufactured a run on their own in the first after Luke Lawrence and Shaun Montoya singled to open the inning and completed a double steal. Tyler Bell grounded out to bring home Lawrence.
Ethan Walker started the game for the Wildcats and made it through the first inning with no trouble and escaped a jam in the second before giving up a run in the third on a double.
With the score now tied 1-1, Montoya was hit by a pitch to lead off the third inning. Cole Hage was the next batter up and he hit into a double play, which began a tension-filled inning.
After Montoya slid into second, Hofstra’s shortstop, Michael Brown, yelled curse words at Montoya. This led to both dugouts jawing back and forth along with Head Coach Nick Mingione being upset with the second base umpire.
Following the double play, Bell walked, and Hansen was hit by a pitch, which led to words being exchanged between Hansen and Hofstra starting pitcher Branden Brown.
This caused the tension to reach a highpoint as the umpires warned Hofstra’s dugout and gathered before also warning Kentucky’s dugout. This led to a long and animated conversation between Mingione and the umpires.
“I will say this, they never hit us intentionally, that’s not what happened,” Mingione said. “Sometimes the game can get emotional, and players can say and do things, but I like the way our team responded because all the attention was about Kentucky, it was never about our towards out opponent.”
Once play resumed, Hindle and Dylan Koontz were both hit by pitches to load the bases and bring home a run.
After a pitching change, Devin Burkes walked to bring home another run that extended the Cats’ lead to 3-1.
In the fourth inning, the Cats loaded the bases on a single and two walks. Hindle unloaded them with his first career home run, which was a 393-foot grand slam over the left centerfield wall to break the game open.
“It felt amazing, I was able to get my swing off with two strikes and I’m just thankful the guys ahead of me were able to get on base and give me the opportunity to do that,” Hindle said.
The Wildcats were scoreless in the sixth before steals alone manufactured a run in the seventh. With runners on the corners, Lawrence stole second, which allowed, pinch runner, Kyuss Gargett to steal home and extend the lead to 8-1.
The Bats Cats added their final run of the game after Gargett ran out an infield single to score James McCoy.
Scott Rouse relived Walker and tossed the final five innings of the game without allowing a run.
Following the sweep, Kentucky will be back in action on Tuesday, March 4, when it will travel to Richmond, Kentucky, for a home-and-home series against EKU with first pitch 6 p.m. ET.
