UK Baseball rebounded nicely with an 8-6 win Saturday over George Mason.

After starter Zack Brown struggled on Friday in the loss to Wofford, the Cats turned to senior right-hander Dustin Beggs on Saturday.

“We need Dustin Beggs to go out there and really set the tone,” coach Gary Henderson said.

Beggs did exactly what his coach asked of him.

The senior tossed six innings while only allowing one run and four hits. Beggs also added five strikeouts in the victory for UK.

JaVon Shelby led the way for the Cats offensively going 3-4 with two doubles and an run batted in. However, Shelby wasn’t the only one doing damage offensively.

Freshman outfielder Tristan Pompey got his first career start in left field and immediately made an impact.

In his first at-bat as a starter, Pompey hit a two-run home run over the left field wall which would give the Cats an early 4-0 lead.

George Mason was able to crawl back into the game after a run crossed in the third, and after back-to-back errors by the Cats in the bottom of the eighth inning lead to two runs scored. That trimmed the Cats’ lead to 4-3 heading into the ninth.

The Cats would then answer the Patriots rally with one of their own.

After a Shelby double with one out, DH Gunnar McNeill took one over the right field wall for his first homer at UK, extending the lead to 6-3.

Later that same inning, after Zach Arnold was hit by a pitch and Zach Reks singled. Luke Becker doubled to right center plating both Arnold and Reks for insurance that would prove to be much needed in the bottom half of the inning.

Henderson turned to senior Bo Wilson to finish things off in the bottom half of the ninth, but after George Mason’s Timothy Turner hit a three run homer to trim the Cats lead to 8-6, Henderson turned to redshirt freshman Justin Lewis to close things out.

Lewis made his first collegiate appearance in the ninth and got the final two outs of the game to cap off and 8-6 victory for the Cats.

The Cats are now 1-1 and face off with the Dayton Flyers on Sunday in the finale of their weekend round-robin.

Box Score:

1. #19 Evan White 1B: 1-6, 1 R 
2. #8 Storm Wilson CF: 0-2, 1 R, 2 HBP
3. #5 JaVon Shelby 3B: 3-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB
4. #25 Gunnar McNeill DH: 2-5, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR
5. #6 Tristan Pompey LF: 1-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR
6. #35 Zach Arnold C: 0-4, 1 R, 1 HBP
7. #44 Dorian Hairston RF: 0-2
         PH(T6)- #40 Zach Reks: 3-3, 1 R
8. #10 Luke Becker 2B: 1-4, 2 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB
9. #2 Riley Mahan SS: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 BB

Pitching Stats:

1. #14 Dustin Beggs RHP: 6.0 IP   4 H   1 R   1 ER   1 BB   5 K  
2. #52 Zach Pop RHP: 1.0 IP   1 H   1 R   0 ER   0 BB   1 K
3. #39 Zach Logue LHP: 1.0 IP   0 H   0 R   0 ER   0 BB   0 K
4. #30 Bo Wilson RHP: 0.1 IP   1 H   3 R   3 ER   1 BB   0 K
5. #27 Justin Lewis RHP: 0.2 IP   0 H   0 R   0 ER   0 BB   0 K