Kentucky baseball (12-2) defeated Wofford (12-4) by a small margin of 2-1 thanks to the heroics of a pair of pitchers on the mound.

Junior Ethan Walker got the start for the Cats and pitched five dominant innings. The Longwood transfer struggled in his previous two outings, coming into the matchup with a 6.75 ERA, but he turned it around and left the mound with a 3.86 ERA.

The only inning that saw traffic on the base paths behind Walker was the second, with every other inning resulting in three-up, three-down for the visiting Terriers.

With no walks, four strikeouts and only two hits, the lefty’s command of the strike zone impressed UK Head Coach Nick Mingione.

“E -walk [Walker] was phenomenal,” Mingione said. “Didn’t walk a guy against a team that that’s trying to work the count.”

The only run scored while Walker was on the mound was unearned from an errant throw by his catcher Raphael Pelletier, who was trying to pickoff an aggressive baserunner. 

Scott Rouse took over on the mound and it was a very similar story. Though he gave up no runs in the final four innings of the game, Rouse only allowed three hits while striking out four and working out of a critical jam.

In the eighth inning Rouse found himself ahead 1-2 against two consecutive batters but was unable to finish them off and conceded walks to the pair.

With it being only a one-run game, any sort of offensive spark the Terriers might find could be fatal to the Wildcats. Maintaining composure in clutch time situations can be difficult.

“I trust my teammates,” Rouse said. “I trust that they are going to make plays behind me. Guys picked me up the whole time.”

The senior was proven right as a high-chopping groundball to second was turned into a double play, quickly ending the inning.

Rouse lowered his ERA to 0.6 on the season and has only allowed a single earned run in 15 innings of work, contributing to what is shaping up to be a formidable pitching staff.

“We challenged them to attack and pound the strike zone early,” Mingione said. “That’s exactly what E-Walk [Walker] did. Scott Rouse came in, did exactly what we asked him to do. He pitched and attacked like he was supposed to, and it was awesome.”

With conference play on the horizon, things are only going to get more difficult for the Wildcats in an SEC that recently added Oklahoma and Texas, but a strong pitching staff just might be the key.