Kentucky baseball (18-12, 5-7 SEC) suffered a 4-3 extra-inning loss to in-state rival No. 14 Louisville (25-7, 8-4 ACC). It was the third game in the Wildcats’ last four that ended in extra innings.
This was the third straight midweek loss for the Wildcats, despite playing a close game against a top-15 ranked rival.
Head Coach Nick Mingione is now 4-10 against the Cardinals, the Wildcats still hold a comfortable lead in the all-time series with a 65-50-1 record.
Neither team held a lead of more than one run all game; all three one-run leads were erased in half an inning.
The Wildcats pulled ahead 1-0 in the second inning, but Louisville evened it back up in the bottom of the inning. The Cardinals took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, but UK tied it up again in the top of the sixth. When Kentucky pulled ahead 3-2 in the top of the 10th, Louisville evened the game before walking it off.
Two baserunning errors early in the game proved costly for Kentucky. The Wildcats made two outs at third attempting to advance from first on balls to right field.
Cole Hage was the first Wildcat to reach base with a first inning walk. Hudson Brown followed with a single to right, but Hage was thrown out trying to advance to third on the hit.
With the blunder being the second out of the inning, Tyler Bell flew out to end the first. This was one of two outs on the bases that potentially cost Kentucky a run.
Ethan Walker started on the bump for Kentucky, his sixth start of the season. Prior to the game, Walker had a 6.50 ERA in 18 innings pitched.
After getting two quick outs, Walker allowed a double into left-center field but forced an inning-ending groundout to strand the runner on second.
Shaun Montoya led off the second with a line drive over the head of the third baseman for a single, before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Ethan Hindle joined Montoya on the bases with a walk.
Griffin Cameron hit a two-out RBI single into right field. Montoya scored on the hit, but Hindle was thrown out at third to end the inning.
This out at third wasn’t close by any means, and the decision to run is questionable given the throw Garret Pike made an inning earlier. It seemed as if Hindle believed the play would be at the plate, but the Cardinals’ defense opted to get the inning-ending out at third.
The Wildcats were held to one run in the inning, as opposed to having a runner in scoring position for the top of the lineup. Luke Lawrence, who’s hitting .316 with runners in scoring position this season and leads the team with nine two-out RBIs, was left in the on-deck circle.
Walker surrendered a lead-off triple to Jake Munroe, then allowed an RBI single into left field. Louisville evened up the game at 1-1 on just two pitches.
Walker settled in after this, striking out the next hitter with a pitch clock violation and recording the second out on a sacrifice bunt. With a runner on second and two outs, Walker threw an inning-ending strikeout to prevent further damage.
Following a pitching change, Hage smoked a ball to left-center field that would’ve been over the wall had it not been for Cardinals center fielder Lucas Moore scaling the wall to make the grab.
Moore broke a full sprint to jump at the wall and catch the ball about two feet over the fence, saving the run.
The homer in a rivalry game would’ve been huge for momentum for Kentucky, instead it flipped momentum to the home dugout. The run would’ve also ended up making the difference in a game that went to extras.
The two other Wildcats recorded outs as well, making for the first three-up, three-down inning of the game.
After two quick outs, Montoya singled on a groundball up the middle, resulting in his seventh multi-hit game of the season.
Lawrence hit a bloop single to shallow left-center field, he was thrown out attempting to steal second for the second out. The next pitch resulted in an inning-ending strikeout.
Nile Adcock came on for Walker and in his second inning of work, he surrendered a line drive single into left field and an infield single, putting runners on first and second with one out.
The next hitter roped a line drive into left field to score the go-ahead run from second base.
This led to another Kentucky pitching change, bringing Evan Byers out of the bullpen to replace Adcock.
Byers forced a first-pitch flyout to his first batter. The runner on second stole third, leaving runners on the corners with two outs. He walked the next batter to load the bases.
An inning-ending flyout allowed Byers to escape a bases-loaded jam, holding Louisville to one run in the fifth inning.
After Brown worked a full count walk to lead off the sixth inning, Louisville made a pitching change.
Following the change, Brown stole second after back-to-back flyouts, reaching scoring position with two outs.
Montoya drove Brown in with his third single of the game in as many at-bats, evening the game at 2-2.
Leighton Harris took over for Byers in the sixth and tossed a scoreless frame before retiring the side in order in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Like the Cardinals, Kentucky was held scoreless in the seventh and failed to reach base in the top of the eighth.
James McCoy replaced Harris on the mound before the bottom of the eighth. This was the eighth appearance on the mound this season for McCoy.
McCoy got behind 3-0 to the first batter he faced before battling back to record the strikeout. McCoy retired the side in order, adding another strikeout to end the inning.
The Cardinals brought in their seventh pitcher to throw the top of the ninth inning as Wyatt Danilowicz came on in relief.
Danilowicz struck out the side to keep the game tied heading into the home half of the ninth.
Louisville led off the bottom of the ninth with a line drive into right-center field that bounced out of the glove of Cameron, allowing the winning run to reach second with no outs.
Raphael Pelletier back-picked the runner at second, clearing the bases and recording the first out of the inning. McCoy induced a groundout to shortstop on the next pitch for the second out.
A two-out double by the Cardinals put the winning run back into scoring position, leading to a pitching change. The left-handed Cole Hentschel replaced McCoy to face the Cards left-handed batter.
The runner on second was caught stealing third to end the inning and send the game into extra innings.
Cameron led off the 10th inning with a bunt single, advancing to second when the throw exited the field of play. Lawrence moved Cameron to third base with a sacrifice bunt.
Hage hit a line drive into shallow left field to bring in the go-ahead run. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch and Bell walked behind him.
With runners on first and second and two outs, the Cardinals brought in their eighth pitcher of the game in an attempt to escape the 10th.
Devin Burkes grounded out to end the inning, leaving Kentucky with a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the 10th.
Hentschel came back out in the bottom of the 10th inning. He walked the first batter he faced to bring the winning run to the plate.
After forcing a flyout for the first out of the inning, Hentschel allowed a single up the middle that put the winning run on-base.
The Wildcats opted to change pitchers, bringing in the right-handed Robert Hogan to replace Hentschel against a right-handed batter. Hogan was the seventh Wildcat pitcher to enter the game.
Hogan surrendered the game-tying single to left field on the first pitch he threw. The single advanced the winning run to third base.
The next batter he faced hit a walk-off single to end the ballgame.
The Wildcats next game is the series opener against No. 2 Texas. The first of three games will be played on Friday, April 11, at Kentucky Proud Park with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The game will be shown live on SEC Network+.
