Kentucky baseball earns first sweep of season, defeats Indiana State 7-6
Kentucky Wildcats outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt (21) celebrates hitting a double during the Kentucky vs. Indiana State baseball game on Sunday, March 5, 2023, at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Kentucky won 7-6. Photo by Travis Fannon | Staff
March 8, 2023
Kentucky baseball defeated Indiana State 7-6 with a walk-off base hit by Jase Felker that brought Ryan Waldschmidt in for the winning run.
The Wildcats entered the series finale after narrowly defeating Indiana State in Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Cats began with Zack Lee on the mound, with Lee entering the matchup having yet to give up a run in his two previous starts, while the Sycamores started Connor Fenlong.
Lee allowed the first batter to reach base on a hit-by-pitch before giving up a single. Unfortunately for Lee, the runners advanced further due to a throwing error by Emilien Pitre.
Indiana State would ultimately strike first, bringing both of its runners in with a single. The hits didn’t stop for Indiana State either as Lee gave up a single and a ground-rule double, bringing in another Sycamore baserunner.
Nevertheless, the Wildcats pushed through, escaping the inning down 3-0 with two runners left on base before going three-up-three-down in the bottom of the first.
The Wildcats bounced back in the top of the second, only allowing one hit and ending the half inning with a double play. To begin the bottom of the second, Pitre recorded Kentucky’s first hit with a single over the third baseman before Hunter Gillman reached base after being hit by a pitch.
Kentucky finally found paydirt with Waldschmidt cashing in a long double to center field to bring in two Wildcats before Grant Smith advanced Waldschmidt with a single down the third base line. Jackson Gray soon struck again with a double to left field, batting in runners Waldschmidt and Smith. After the dust had settled, Kentucky found itself with a 4-3 lead.
Following the eventful inning, innings three through six saw both teams finish scoreless.
The drought came to an end when Indiana State scored on a groundout that brought in the runner from third to score on Kentucky’s southpaw pitcher Magdiel Cotto. After only 0.2 innings pitched, Cotto was promptly replaced with Colby Frieda.
Unfortunately for Kentucky, the pitching change didn’t prevent the Sycamores from scoring further as Indiana State scored two more runs after Frieda allowed two back-to-back singles.
The Wildcats found themselves in further trouble with two Sycamores on base before Ryder Giles stepped in and relieved Frieda to help Kentucky escape the inning.
After the top of the seventh inning Indiana State held a 6-4 lead and sought to prevent the first Kentucky sweep of the season.
Kentucky was not willing to give in and responded with a Waldschmidt double on the Sycamore’s Joey Hurth, who was promptly relieved by lefty Jared Spencer. Despite that, the change didn’t stop Felker from hitting a single to bring in Waldschmidt for a run.
Keeping its momentum, the Wildcats shutout Indiana State in the top of the eighth.
Being left searching for an answer offensively with zero Cats on base, Gilliam notched a solo home run to left field to tie the game at 6-6 for Kentucky. Indiana State was then forced to relieve Spencer with Brennyn Cutts to finish out the bottom of the eighth.
In the ninth inning Ryan Hagenow kicked things off on the mound for Kentucky, retiring all three Sycamore batters.
Looking for magic in the bottom of the ninth, Indiana State elected to keep Cutts on the mound.
Leading off for Kentucky was Waldschmidt, who batted a single on a full count before Smith laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Waldschmidt to second to put him in scoring position.
With two outs on the board and the game tied, Felker batted a walk-off single that brought in Waldschmidt from second for the Wildcat victory.
The win marked Kentucky’s first series sweep of the season, improving the Wildcats’ record to 9-2 with five straight wins.
Waldschmidt put on a clinic for Kentucky, going 4-4 from the batter’s box with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs, one of which ended as the winning run.
Kentucky returns to action to take on Murray State at home on Tuesday, March 7, at 4 p.m. EST. The game will be streamed live on the SEC Network+.
