No. 18 Kentucky baseball rallies late to defeat Western Kentucky in Bowling Green
Kentucky players celebrate during the No. 18 Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky baseball game on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at Nick Denes Field in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Kentucky won 10-8. Photo by Jack Weaver | Staff
March 29, 2023
No. 18 Kentucky baseball (21-3) overcame a four-run deficit late to take down Western Kentucky (16-10) at Nick Denes Field in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on Tuesday.
The win comes after Kentucky fell 4-3 to Alabama (19-6) to end what was the longest Division-I win streak in the nation.
Kentucky wouldn’t score a run in the bottom of the first with redshirt freshman Travis Smith starting on the mound. Smith retired the side in the bottom of the first.
Kentucky would remain scoreless when Wildcat runners were left stranded on first and second base in the top of the second after a forced walk by senior Chase Stanke was followed by a single from sophomore Nolan McCarthy.
The Hilltoppers would get on the board first in the bottom of the second after RBIs from freshman Camden Ross and redshirt freshman Eli Watson.
The Wildcats wouldn’t record a hit in the bottom of the third, with Hilltopper graduate student and former Wildcat Kirk Liebert sending an RBI single up the middle to extend Western Kentucky’s advantage to three.
After a scoreless fourth inning from the Wildcats, Kentucky would make its first pitching change to senior Ryder Gyles. The Cats would then make another pitching change after another hitless inning to redshirt sophomore Evan Byers in the bottom of the fifth.
A balk would extend the Hilltoppers’ lead in the bottom of the fifth, increasing the Kentucky deficit to four.
Kentucky would once again fail to score in the top of the sixth despite recording its second hit by way of a single from senior Jackson Gray.
The Wildcats would make another change on the mound, marking their fourth pitcher of the game, inserting junior Seth Logue, who would hold the Hilltoppers scoreless in the bottom of the sixth.
After a forced walk by sophomore Emilien Pitre, Kentucky would get on the board in the seventh after a single from redshirt senior Hunter Gilliam, plating Pitre after a throwing error. The single by Gilliam extended his ongoing hit streak to 18 games.
With sophomore Ryan Waldschmidt forcing a walk shortly after, a bunt from Stanke would be followed by a throwing error scoring Gilliam to add another Kentucky run.
The Wildcats would strike gold shortly after when a walk from McCarthy was followed by a grand slam from Gray, giving Kentucky a 6-4 lead.
Kentucky would make another pitching change in the bottom of the seventh to junior Magdiel Cotto, who would hold the Hilltoppers scoreless in the bottom of the seventh.
Waldschmidt would record his second hit of the game in the top of the eighth by way of a two-out single, stealing second shortly after to reach scoring position.
After a forced walk by junior Reuben Church, a McCarthy single would add another run to Kentucky’s score, plating Waldschmidt to make the Kentucky advantage three.
The Wildcats would add to their lead shortly after when senior Grant Smith would make it back-to-back games with a home run with a three-run shot to make the score 10-4.
Kentucky would dig deeper into its bullpen in the bottom of the eighth, making a change to sophomore Jackson Nove, who would struggle early, surrendering a one-out home run shortly before giving up another hit and walking two batters to load the bases.
Seth Chavez would inherit the loaded bases shortly after, walking another batter and throwing a wild pitch as the Hilltoppers shortened the Kentucky lead to three.
After a hitless top of the ninth from Kentucky, the Wildcats would make their final pitching change to redshirt sophomore Zach Hise.
Hise would strikeout two batters before surrendering the fourth home run of the game but would retire the next batter to give Kentucky a 10-8 win.
With the victory secured, Kentucky will look open up another win streak as it heads back to Kentucky Proud Park to take on Missouri (18-6) in its third SEC series on March 31 at 6:30 p.m. EST. The game will be streamed live on the SEC Network+.
