The UK baseball team traveled to Spartanburg, S.C., to open its 2012 season this weekend.

Friday night they rode a dominant performance by starting pitcher Taylor Rogers to a 10-4 victory over Wofford.

Rogers pitched six innings, striking out a career high nine batters while giving up one earned run on five hits.

The offense also showed its muscles out of the gate. A home run by senior third baseman Thomas McCarthy highlighted a day in which nine UK players drove a runner in.

Saturday’s game with Eastern Michigan was much of the same for UK. Starting pitcher Jerad Grundy didn’t allow a run in his first career start for the Cats in 5.2 innings.

He was aided by an offense that jumped on the EMU pitchers from the opening pitch. A home run by junior catcher Luke Maile and multi-hit games from five players put the game out of reach quickly.

The only disconcerting statistic so far is the bullpen’s ERA of 7.11 in the first two games. A constant struggle last season, UK Head Coach Gary Henderson said last week the bullpen had been a major focus over the offseason.

After Sunday’s game was postponed due to heavy rain, the Cats will finish the opening trio of games on Monday at 3 p.m. against USC Upstate. Sophomore left-hander Corey Littrell will make his first start of the year.

The Cats will then travel back to Lexington to open their home schedule against Buffalo on Friday at Cliff Hagan Stadium.