Kentucky baseball (12-2) took the series finale over Wofford (12-4) by a score of 2-1 thanks to stellar performances on the mound.
“EWalk [Ethan Walker] just attacked, Scott Rouse was phenomenal” Head Coach Nick Mingione said. “Those two guys were just absolutely incredible.”
Walker got the ball for his third start of the season looking to find his groove in the 2025 season.
Walker tossed a three-up, three-down inning in the first, but ran into some trouble in the second.
The trouble came after a single, sacrifice bunt and infield singles put runners at the corners with two outs.
Raphel Pelletier was behind the plate for Kentucky and tried to pickoff the runner at third, but the throw was off and trickled up the left field line allowing Wofford to take a 1-0 lead.
Walker did not let the unearned run phase him as he retired the next six Terriers in order.
The Bat Cats were quiet in the early innings but got a two-out rally going in the bottom of the fourth after Patrick Herrera singled and James McCoy walked.
This brought Devin Burkes to the plate, and he delivered a single up the middle to bring home Herrera and tie the game at 1-1.
Walker kept it rolling in the fifth with another three-up, three-down inning in what turned out to be his final inning of the ballgame.
The lefty finished his outing retiring 10 batters in a row in his best outing of the season thus far.
Rouse took over in the sixth and worked around a single to avoid breaking the tie.
Tyler Bell led off the sixth with a double to left center and was moved over to third on a sacrifice bunt by Shaun Montoya.
Herrera came through with a deep flyball to center that scored Bell to break the tie in the Wildcats favor.
Rouse got into big trouble in the seventh as he surrendered a leadoff double, but it was quickly erased by a baserunning mistake by Adam Haber.
Two more strikeouts got Rouse out of the jam and kept the Cats lead in-tact. Rouse did not make things any easier on himself in the eighth as he gave up back-to-back walks with one out.
Just like the jams before that one, Rouse rolled a groundball to Luke Lawrence that he flipped to Bell who touched second and fired it over to McCoy at first just in time for the inning ending double play.
“I trust my teammates,” Rouse said about working out of jams. “I trust that they’re going to make plays behind me.”
The ninth was no different for Rouse as he worked around a single and stolen base in the ninth to secure the series clinching win.
“They are dogs,” Burkes said about Walker and Rouse. “Coach challenged us to come out better in all aspects of our game and ram the ball in the strike zone and man they did that today.”
Following the series clinching win, Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday, March 11, where it will take on Northern Illinois with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. ET.
