Bullpen Leads Kentucky Baseball to Sweep of Tennessee

Kentucky starting pitcher Justin Lewis was clearly less than his best in Sunday’s start against Tennessee. Lewis entered Sunday’s contest with a 6-2 record and a 3.12 ERA. The sophomore right-hander had walked only 16 batters in 72 innings entering Sunday.

But Lewis did not show the same command of the strike zone in Sunday’s outing, lasting only three and one-third innings, allowing two earned runs and three hits while walking three batters. 

And while this scenario might present problems for many teams, No. 8 Kentucky handled it with ease in Sunday’s 7-2 win over the Vols. 

Freshman Zack Thompson relieved Lewis, inheriting a bases-loaded, one out situation, with Tennessee already having plated two runs in the inning. But Thompson induced Tennessee center fielder Brodie Thompson into an inning-ending double play to get out of the jam.

Thompson was outstanding in his 39-pitch relief stint, allowing just two hits and no runs in three and one-third innings. The freshman, who had lobbied the coaching staff earlier in the week, trying to get into more SEC games, came through when called upon.

“I went to him again today (and said) ‘are you good, how many are you good for?’ and he said ‘coach, I’ll go as long as you want me to go,” Mingione said of his conversation with Thompson. “The guy wants the ball. It’s like we have to pull it back from him. He hadn’t been throwing a ton of pitches during the midweek, and (pitching against SEC competition) in place of his bullpen has helped him grow as a pitcher.”

Thompson was able to get two outs in the seventh inning before giving way to closer Logan Salow. The senior, pitching in his final SEC regular season game at home, finished the final two and one-thirds innings for his 10th save of the season, the second-most in UK single-season history (Trevor Gott, 12). But Salow, ever the team player, is not focused on individual accomplishments.

“It’s nice, it’s pretty cool to look back on, but right now, our focus is on winning every game,” Salow said. “The fact that I get the statistic with it is good, but at the end of the day, we’re winning baseball games. Being in an important spot and an important role is exciting, but you can’t lose the fact that we’re winning baseball games right now, and that’s what really matters.”

Mingione knows that his team feels at ease with Salow on the mound.

“Logan was good again, he came in and got the big out,” Mingione said. “He did what he’s been doing all year.”

The Wildcats got all of the offense they would need in the bottom of the first inning, plating four runs against Tennessee starter Zach Warren. Riley Mahan remained red-hot, driving in a pair of runs with an RBI triple, giving the Cats a 3-0 lead. Mahan then scored on a single by Troy Squires to give Kentucky a 4-0 advantage. The Wildcats added single runs in the fourth, seventh and eighth innings to account for the rest of the scoring.

Mingione also thought the huge home crowds boosted the Wildcats this weekend.

“I want to thank the Big Blue Nation, we had awesome crowds here this weekend,” Mingione said. “As long as we finish strong, there’s going to be more games here. We’ll have plenty of time to thank our fans. It helps. One of our players came up to me yesterday and said ‘coach, I’ve never seen this many people at a baseball game when school’s out’ and that’s a guy that’s been here for four years. Our fans have been awesome, it helps and I want to thank them.”

Kentucky will face Florida in a three-game series beginning on Thursday in Gainesville. The Wildcats control their own destiny regarding the SEC title. If Kentucky can win two or three games at Florida, the Wildcats would claim at least a share of the SEC championship for only the second time in school history (2006).

And if the Wildcats can get bullpen efforts like they got on Sunday, that possibility becomes even more of a reality.