No. 22 Kentucky (6-2) began the homestand defeating Western Kentucky (5-4) 13-9.
The pitching performance didn’t replicate what was shown in the previous series against Evansville, but the Bat Cats had everything going for them on all cylinders in the batter’s box.
Every single starter for Kentucky recorded a base hit, outhitting Western Kentucky 20-10 throughout the game.
It all began with an Ethan Hindle first-pitch solo home run that got the hit parade rolling and the flame ignited in the Kentucky dugout.
The Wildcats made the Hilltoppers pay with precision small-ball, consistently getting the bunts down and moving the runners.
Tyler Cerny added two hit-by-pitches.
As a whole, Kentucky went 10-for-20 with runners in scoring position, impressively improving after going 7-for-39 over the entire weekend series in Evansville.
Seven Wildcat batters recorded two or more hits in the game, with senior Luke Lawrence and junior Jayce Tarnish both knocking three hits each.
Freshman Owen Jenkins topped everyone, however, with four hits, the most in a single game in his young collegiate career.
“He’s a winner,” head coach Nick Mingione said of Jenkins, “the way he’s carried himself as an upperclassman, and he does it behind the plate, he does it in the box and his presence.”
Jenkins, who got the job behind the plate in the first game of the season against UNC Greensboro, is proving to Mingione why he made the correct choice.
His veteran presence is setting the tone with the older voice of the team and the players surrounding him near the infield, like Cerny and Hindle.
The Lexington native played around his friends and family, who he grew so close to, and now, with a new family playing on the diamond of Kentucky Proud Park with his brothers in the blue and white.
Jenkins shows no selfishness toward himself and never shies away from proving that Kentucky baseball and the players around him make the team whole in order to win as a brotherhood.
“Having a level of confidence coming in and as a freshman, just trusting my game and I just want the guys to trust me,” Jenkins said on where his approach comes from in practice.
He has already proven his confidence in his game, not just to his teammates and coaches, but to the entirety of the Big Blue Nation, and he now has full trust from everyone as he sits second on the team in batting average at .367.
On top of playing around with friends and family in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, he’s showing off his growth and the ceiling of where he can reach as the season progresses.
“Showing up with confidence allows them to help me, and I’ll have their back if they ever need anything,” Jenkins continued with his unselfish point of view with the team and his leadership.
He continues to prove Mingione’s point that Jenkins is a loud, veteran voice around the program at such a young age and at such a new level of college competition.
With the leadership of Jenkins and all the veterans around him, the vibes around the dugout were lively throughout the entire game.
The Bat Cats are back in action Friday, Feb. 27 at 4 p.m. as they face off against St. John’s (1-6) beginning a three-game series at home.
