It was a rainy day in Lexington, but as the sun began to set the skies cleared and made way for baseball after all. The UK baseball team concluded an 11-game home-stand at Cliff Hagan Stadium by defeating Canisius College 12-4.

One day after putting up 32 runs on Morehead State, the Canisius bats seemed to have cooled off in Lexington, scoring just 4 runs on 10 hits against UK pitching.

Once again, UK received a solid mid-week start by a freshman; this time it was Jonathan Paquet. Paquet allowed just two runs on five hits in four and one-third innings, striking out five hitters in the process. The bullpen was able to hold down the fort for the rest of the night and secure the Cats’ victory on “getaway day.”

“I was really pleased with Jonathan’s efford,” UK head coach Gary Henderson said. “He continues to get better, gives us a chance to win, and for the most part the hits he gave up were ground ball hits so I was pleased. He’s getting better.”

But it was the UK bats that were red hot in this game, aided by a five-run fourth inning that put UK in front for good, and a four-run fifth inning including Mike Kaczmarek’s first home run of the season. Kaczmarek, normally a reliever but the designated hitter against Canisius, drilled a Ryan Fennell pitch over the right-center field wall to extend the Cats’ lead in the fifth inning, which stood at 10-2 by the end of the frame.

“It was two outs and I was just trying to get something started for the club,” Kaczmarek said. “I saw it good right out of the hand. It broke good right over the plate and I just swung.”

In that fifth inning, however, Brian Adams came up lame sliding into second. Adams, who participated in the football team’s first spring practice earlier in the day, stayed in the day and scored a run in the inning, and then was replaced by Sam Kidd. According to Henderson Adams seems okay, and was removed from the game solely for precautionary measures. Henderson was confident the injury was not due to Adams splitting time between football and baseball.

With the win, the Cats (13-8, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) concluded the home-stand with a record of 9-2, including their first two SEC wins of the season over Tennessee this past weekend. This weekend, they take their SEC show on the road to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to take on the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in a three-game series. UK will look to carry their momentum at home with them on the road to continue their winning ways.

“We have got to go on the road now and play well,” Henderson said. “We’ve played seven games on the road this year and we’ve only played well two or three times. We need to go on the road and we need to play well.”