Big days from Pitre and Burkes help Kentucky baseball defeat Wright State 8-3
Kentucky Wildcats infielder Émilien Pitre (4) hits the ball during the Kentucky vs. Evansville home opener baseball game on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Kentucky won 6-3. Photo by Isabel McSwain | Staff
February 26, 2023
Kentucky baseball (4-1) defeated Wright State (1-4) at Kentucky Proud Park on Friday, fueled by dominant pitching and key performances at the plate by sophomore Emilien Pitre and redshirt sophomore Devin Burkes.
There were three instances in the game in which Burkes scored from an RBI by Pitre, which was key in helping the Cats pull away from the Raiders as the game progressed.
Wright State quickly took a 2-0 lead after a two-run home run, but starting pitcher Logan Martin, a senior from Cartersville, Georgia, helped end hopes of any more runs by striking out the last batter while a runner was on third base.
The Wildcats responded with a run of their own after senior Jackson Gray stole third and then immediately scored following a throwing error by the Raiders.
Pitre tied the game with an RBI single that brought in Burkes, who doubled before advancing to third on a wild pitch.
Not long afterward, Pitre scored on an RBI single by redshirt freshman James McCoy, giving Kentucky a 3-2 lead.
Both halves of the second inning were three up, three down for both teams, but Wright State hit a leadoff home run to tie the game at the start of the third.
The Cats reclaimed the lead after another RBI from Pitre that allowed Burkes to score, but this time it was a double instead of a single.
Redshirt senior Hunter Gilliam then put Kentucky ahead 5-3 with a single to right field that brought Pitre home and after a single by junior Kendal Ewell advanced Gilliam to second, Wright State made its first pitching change.
Kentucky loaded the bases with one out in the third but failed to capitalize on the opportunity.
Martin retired the side in the top of the fourth inning, with two of the outs coming from strikeouts, bringing his strikeout total to six.
After a slow start to the bottom of the fourth, Gilliam gave the Wildcats another run with an RBI single that allowed Gray to score.
The bases were loaded again for Kentucky later in the inning, this time with two outs, but nothing was able to come out of the situation.
The top of the fifth was another three-batter inning for Wright State as Martin picked up another strikeout in the process.
The Wildcats scored one more run from an RBI double from Burkes, prompting the Raiders to change pitchers once again.
Wright State began the sixth inning with a single, marking only its fourth hit of the game, but every batter afterward was retired.
Nobody from Kentucky was able to come up with a run in the bottom of the sixth, although Ewell stole second after walking, accounting for the team’s third stolen base of the game.
Darren Williams took the mound for the Cats starting in the seventh and struck out the first two batters he faced, ensuring that none of the three batters in the inning could reach base.
The bottom of the seventh saw a key play by Pitre, who doubled to right center field, which allowed Burkes to make it home.
Williams retired the side in the eighth, with his showing being capped off with an impressive diving put out by Gilliam.
The Wildcats could not come up with anything besides a single in their half of the eighth.
The final half inning was another three up, three down for Wright State, with Williams recording two more strikeouts.
With three hits each and five runs between the two, Pitre and Burkes were the main players to carry the team offensively.
Martin, who was credited with the win, and Williams, who was credited with his first save of the year, combined for thirteen strikeouts.
Kentucky will look to clinch the series against Wright State on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 1 p.m. EST at Kentucky Proud Park.
