Machamer, Mahan Steal Senior Day Spotlight

The Kentucky baseball team held its Senior Day activities prior to Saturday’s game against Tennessee, honoring the seven seniors who are playing in their final regular season series at Cliff Hagan Stadium.

But it was a junior and a freshman who stole the show in Saturday’s game. Junior Riley Mahan homered in each of his first two at-bats and Chris Machamer earned his first career victory as Kentucky beat Tennessee 8-3, topping the Vols for the second straight day.

Mahan hit a home run in his fourth straight SEC game on Saturday when he hit a two-run bomb in the bottom of the second inning to give Kentucky a 2-0 lead. He followed that with another two-run bomb in the third, this one travelling an estimated 436 feet, giving the Cats a 6-1 edge. The junior second baseman now has 13 homers on the season, including five in his last four games.

Mahan could not recall such a streak at any point in his career.

“(I’ve) never really been much of a home run hitter,” Mahan said. “But it feels pretty good.”

And it was a simple adjustment that has led Mahan to his current hot streak.

“I’ve been struggling the whole year, chasing bad pitches and getting myself out,” Mahan said. “Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve really focused on the strike zone and seeing good pitches and getting pitches up.”

Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione is pleased with Mahan’s offense.

“There’s a lot of high-fiving and staying out of the way,” Mingione said of Mahan’s streak. “I was really happy for him and the guys are just shaking their head at him now. It’s like ‘man, the guy just keep getting hits’, so as long as we can get a couple of guys like that in our lineup, we’ll be able to score some runs.”

Mahan now has six hits in eight at-bats in the series, with a double, three home runs and five runs batted in. For the week, the junior is 7-of-10 with a pair of doubles, three homers and two walks. Mahan has reached base 10 times in his last 12 plate appearances.

And while Mahan carried the offense, it was Machamer who came out of the bullpen to finish off the Tennessee hitters. Pitching in relief of starter Zach Logue, Machamer went four and one-third innings without allowing a hit or a run. The freshman from North Canton, Ohio, struck out two without walking a batter.

“My favorite thing about his whole stat line was that he never got to a three-ball count,” Mingione said. “We talk about attacking hitters, going at them with your best stuff, trusting your stuff. It’s really nice when you can call on a freshman and he can come pick them up.”

Macahamer was also excited about his effort.

“I just tried to fill up the zone and get contact,” Machamer said. “I’ve been building my pitch count as the season has gone on. I felt good start to finish.”

Saturday was about honoring Kentucky’s seven seniors, but the junior Mahan and the freshman Machamer carried the Cats to the win.