Kentucky baseball (10-1) defeated Eastern Kentucky (0-12) 16-0 in Richmond during the midweek.
After a two-out error in the first inning, Nate Harris got a strikeout and stranded runners at first and third.
Kentucky’s offense started off slow, not recording a baserunner in each of the first two innings.
Harris responded for Kentucky, retiring the Colonels in order in just nine pitches.
Dylan Koontz led off the top of the third inning with a double, breaking up the perfect game. Patrick Herrera drove him in with a double, giving the Cats their first run of the game.
In the bottom of the third, EKU led it off with a walk. Harris responded with two strikeouts and then got a pop-up to third base.
Cole Hage led off the top of the fourth with a ground-rule double to left-center field and scored on a Colonel error. Herrera then had a two RBI on a two-out base hit just over the first baseman and was driven in by a Luke Lawrence base hit, giving Kentucky a 5-0 lead.
Harris continued his dominant outing, retiring EKU in order, adding two strikeouts.
After Hage flew out to center, Kentucky’s offense found its rhythm. Tyler Bell started the rally, hitting a 387-foot home run to right field.
After the home run, EKU pitchers couldn’t find the strike zone. Carsen Hanson was hit by a pitch, Ethan Hindle walked and Koontz was also hit by a pitch to load the bases. Raphael Pelletier got on by an error by EKU, adding another run to Kentucky’s lead.
EKU pitchers still couldn’t find the zone, walking or hitting Kentucky’s next two batters, making the score 10-0. Shaun Montoya cleared the bases with a grand slam to left field.
Kentucky made a move to the pen, putting in Hayden Smith, who started just where Harris left off, striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth.
Kentucky added two more runs in the top of the sixth on a hit-by-pitch and two hits.
The Cats went with freshman Tristan Hunter in the bottom of the sixth. Hunter retired Colonel hitters in order, striking out two batters.
In the seventh inning, the Cats failed to score a run for the first time since the second inning.
Kentucky went to Tommy Skelding. After retiring the first two hitters, EKU recorded its first hit since the first inning of the game. Skelding retired the last batter on a strikeout to end the game.
Kentucky’s pitchers were as close to perfect as they could be against EKU, pitching seven innings 12 strikeouts, zero runs, two hits and one walk.