No. 12 Kentucky baseball (27-6) was defeated 16-6 in eight innings by No. 1 LSU on Thursday, suffering its third consecutive loss on the road.

For the first time all season, Kentucky entered Thursday night coming off a two-game losing streak after losing its first series this season, being swept in a doubleheader at Georgia last weekend.

The Wildcats’ Tuesday night in-state trip to rival Louisville was postponed due to the tragic shooting in the city.

Heading into Baton Rouge, Missouri transfer Zach Hise took the mound for the Cats, going up against Paul Skenes pitching for the Tigers.

Kentucky would go down 1-2-3 in the top of the first with a strikeout from Skenes and an impressive play from LSU’s Tommy White to retire Devin Burkes on a slow-rolling ground ball.

LSU would open the scoring early in the bottom of the inning with four batters giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead after Tommy White doubled to left field bringing in Dylan Crews and Gavin Dugas to score.

With an early disaster brewing for the Wildcats down two with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, things would get worse for Kentucky after Jordan Thompson hit a grand slam to left-center field to make the score 6-0 after the first frame of play.

To start the second Emilien Pitre would smack one up the middle with Hunter Gilliam later putting him in scoring position at second base.

Pitre would come in to score after Nolan McCarthy was able to ground up the middle to put the Cats on the board going into the bottom half of the inning down by five with the score at 6-1.

LSU would continue to add onto the score with the second grand slam of the game from Brayden Jobert making the score 11-1 after two innings of baseball. Thursday night marked the first time in 14 years that the Tigers hit two grand slams in one game.

Kentucky was unable to bring the deficit back in the top of the third, going down 1-2-3 with LSU continuing to add to its lead with a three-run homer from Cade Beloso to make the score 14-1 at the end of three.

The Wildcats would bring the score back a pair of runs after a two-run double from Ryan Waldschmidt to make it an 11-run game going into the bottom of the fourth where LSU would go down 1-2-3.

In the top of the fifth inning Kentucky was able to bring the score back a few more again after Pitre batted in two runs, doubling into right field to make it a 14-5 game.

In the bottom half of the inning LSU would be held scoreless going into the sixth.

The Cats would then go on to strikeout three times with Skenes earning his 13th K of the night to retire the top half of the sixth. LSU wouldn’t fare much better, going down 1-2-3 to Seth Logue, who was pitching for the Wildcats, marking his third scoreless frame after coming in during the fourth inning.

Kentucky would make it an eight-run game in the seventh after Pitre earned his second RBI of the night, singling into center field to allow Jackson Gray to come home and make the score 14-6.

LSU would add one more to the score in the bottom of the seventh, making the score 15-6 with two innings left to play.

After the Cats went down 1-2-3 in the top of the eighth, LSU would end the night early on a run rule from an Alex Milazzo single that saw the score become 16-6, giving the Tigers the win and Kentucky its third consecutive loss. 

Kentucky will return to action on Friday for game two of three against LSU with first pitch at Alex Box Stadium currently set for 7:30 EST p.m. It will air live on the SEC Network+.