Kentucky baseball falls to Georgia 6-2 in game two of Sunday doubleheader, suffers first series loss of season
Kentucky Wildcats infielder Jase Felker (2) walks back to the dugout after striking out 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
April 12, 2023
No. 10 Kentucky baseball (27-5) lost to Georgia (18-14) 6-2 on Easter Sunday in seven innings in the second game of its doubleheader in Athens, Georgia, losing its first series of the year.
The Wildcats would come into the rubber match against the Bulldogs feeling disappointed after losing their six-game win streak in a 3-0 loss earlier on Sunday afternoon.
Zack Lee would take the mound for the Cats, going up against Charlie Goldstein pitching for the Bulldogs.
Kentucky would go down to start the game with a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts from Goldstein and Devin Burkes popping out to continue their struggles at the plate from Sunday’s first game.
Georgia would take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a Parks Harber three-run home run, making Lee pay after Corey Collins earned himself a free walk to first base.
Goldstein would continue the second inning where he left off by making light work of Emilien Pitre, Hunter Gilliam and Nolan McCarthy to strike out five of the first seven batters through two innings.
In the bottom of the second, Kentucky would keep the score the same as Zack Lee was able to strand two runners.
In the top of the third, Kentucky would earn its first hit of game two with a Jackson Gray single up the middle but would not be able to get on the board with Jase Felker grounding out to end the frame.
Georgia would continue to add to its lead with a Charlie Condon homer to center field for the 4-0 lead to end the third inning.
To start the fourth, Goldstein would continue to impress with another 1-2-3 inning to keep the Cats scoreless through yet another frame on Sunday afternoon.
Kentucky would make a pitching change to start the bottom of the fourth with Ryan Hagenow coming in for Lee. Hagenow would strand two runners going into the top of the fifth.
Goldstein would leave the Cats scoreless yet again in the fifth, sitting at 74 pitches going into the bottom of the fifth inning while Kentucky turned to its third pitcher of the game with Jackson Nove taking the mound for his 10th appearance of the season.
Nove would pitch a scoreless inning to keep the score at 4-0 going into the sixth.
Kentucky would score its first run of the double header in the top of the sixth inning with both Felker and Burkes hitting singles before a Pitre single brought the score to 4-2.
Seth Chavez would come in to pitch for the Cats to start the bottom of the six. He would give up a solo home run to Sebastian Murillo to give Georgia its third homer of the day and put the Bulldogs back up by three with the score at 5-2.
Georgia would add to its lead yet again with a Connor Tate solo home run to bring the score at 6-2.
With Kentucky down to its final three outs looking to avoid the doubleheader sweep, the Cats were unable to get any runs on the board and were swept in the Sunday doubleheader, giving Georgia its first series win over a top 10 opponent in over 10 years.
Kentucky will look to rebound and travel to face in-state rival Louisville (24-7) on Tuesday night with first pitch at Jim Patterson Stadium set for 6 p.m. EST. The game can be seen live on the ACC Network.
