Baseball Cats start weekend with loss to Kansas State
February 22, 2013
By Tom Hurley | @TomHurleyKernel
UK baseball continued its start to the 2013 season Thursday at the Caravelle Resort Invitational in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The Cats lost the first of their three-game weekend schedule, going down, 7-5, to Kansas State.
Sophomore left-handed pitcher A.J. Reed took the loss against K-State, just under one week removed from his win against UNC Asheville to open the Cats’ season last Friday.
Reed tossed 4.1 innings in Thursday’s loss, giving up four earned runs on seven hits.
The Cats took a 2-0 lead in the fourth after a Reed drew a walk to kick-start the inning. No. 8 UK then loaded up the bases with zero outs but failed to score more than two runs during the rally.
Although the Cats added a third run in the fifth, they were made to pay for not capitalizing on that opportunity when K-State knocked Reed out of the game in the bottom of the fifth on their way to a five-run inning.
K-State moved 7-3 ahead in the eighth thanks to a two-run homer off the bat of sophomore Shane Conlon.
Reed hit a two-run homer himself with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but it was not enough as K-State (3-1) sealed the upset 7-5 win.
The Cats (3-1) won’t have long to worry about defeat as they return to the diamond Friday to take on Elon University (2-2) in an 11 a.m. contest.
UK head coach Gary Henderson is set to send senior left-handed pitcher Jerad Grundy to the hill against Elon starter, southpaw senior Dylan Clark.
Sophomore outfielder Austin Cousino will be looking to start a new hitting streak after his 0-for-4 showing Thursday ended a seven-game hit-streak.
Elon heads into the game two days removed from a 7-5 win over North Carolina A&T on Wednesday.
Saturday sees the Cats take on weekend hosts Costal Carolina (3-1) at Pelicans Park to round out the season-opening road trip.
Junior left-handed pitcher Corey Littrell is due to line up against the Chanticleers’ freshman right-handed pitcher Tyler Poole.
Costal Carolina earned a 2-1 victory over Kansas State early Thursday, before K-State took down the Cats.
After Saturday’s clash, the Cats will turn their attention to opening day at Cliff Hagan Stadium on Tuesday when they welcome Murray State to Lexington.
