Pitching struggles plagued Kentucky baseball (13-3, 0-1 SEC) in 12-6 loss to No. 4 Georgia (20-1, 1-0 SEC) to open SEC play.
Walks were a huge issue for the pitching staff in game one as 10 free passes were given up and six of those walks came in to score.
The game could not have gotten off to a better start for Kentucky as Shaun Montoya and Luke Lawrence drew walks and Cole Hage drove them all home on a three-run homerun in his first SEC at-bat to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Nic McCay got the start for Kentucky and got into early trouble by giving up two walks of his own to bring up Nolan McCarthy.
The former Wildcat was one of the biggest storylines coming into this series as he left Kentucky after its historic 2024 season and followed former Assistant Head Coach Nick Ammirati to Athens.
McCarthy singled to right field to bring home both runners and trim the Cats lead to 3-2.
Both teams went three-up, three-down in the second before the action picked right back up in the third. Devin Burkes drove in Tyler Bell and moved Dylan Koontz to third on a double.
Patrick Herrera made the Kentucky lead 6-2 with a single that scored both Burkes and Koontz.
McCay struggled in the third as he hit two batters and walked another to load the bases, which ended his evening.
Evan Byers came on in relief and struck out a batter before a wild pitch brought home another Bulldog. However, Byers worked out of further trouble to keep the score at 6-3 Kentucky.
Byers got into big trouble in the fourth when he hit two batters and walked another to load the bases. Jackson Nove was called upon to try and work out of the mess and he balked to bring home a run that slimmed the lead to 6-4 but kept the score there.
The Wildcats ability to work around the walks and limit the damage ran out in the fifth as a walk by Nove gave way to a game-tying homerun from Ryland Zaborowski.
After a leadoff double in the sixth, a botched pickoff attempt by Nove moved Slate Alford to third and he came in to score on a single by Robbie Burnett to give the Bulldogs a 7-6 lead.
Burnett stole second and moved to third on a throwing error by Raphael Pelletier. However, it was a moot point as Henry Hunter hit a two-run homerun to give the Bulldogs a 9-6 lead.
It was only downhill from there for the pitching staff as Robert Hogan came on and continued his rough start with a walk and hit batsman.
Both men came in to score on a three-run homerun by Burnett given up by Tommy Skelding that extended the Bulldog lead to 12-6.
The Bats were unable to find a spark again for the rest of the game which ultimately resulted in the loss to open conference play.
With the loss, Kentucky will look to rebound in game two against Georgia on Saturday, March 15, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. ET.
