Kentucky Seeks Perfect Ten at Cliff Hagan Stadium

Game Notes (PDF)

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With Southeastern Conference play just days away the Kentucky baseball team welcomes in-state foe Murray State to Cliff Hagan Stadium for a midweek meeting that serves as the final prep before the Wildcats head to Texas A&M this weekend.

The Cats (11-6) will look to extend their nine-game home winning streak to begin the season, the longest such streak to begin a season since the 2012 club won its first 21 games at The Cliff. UK has outscored its opponents 97-16 and held them to two or less runs in seven of the nine games, which included a sweep of No. 23 UC Santa Barbara and a win over a Wright State team that went 3-3 on the road against top 10 teams Clemson and South Carolina.

The offense has been humming, batting .366 in the nine-game home win streak, with a .578 slugging percentage and .482 on-base percentage. Junior infielder Luke Becker is coming off a game where he drove in eight runs, the most for any UK player since 2008. 

The pitching has been lights out, posting a 1.44 ERA at home and .179 batting average against. Even the Cats’ one loss in their past nine games saw the staff give up just two unearned runs in a 10-inning defeat. Freshman lefty Zack Thompson (1-1, 2.70 ERA, 23 Ks) will make the fourth start of his career against a Murray State offense batting .329 as a team with 21 home runs.

Date/Time: Tuesday, March 13 (4 p.m.) 

Location (Facility): Lexington, Ky. (Cliff Hagan Stadium)

Radio: UK Radio Network; 98.5 FM-Lexington (Neil Price); ukathletics.com

Broadcast: SEC Network (Chris Burke, Tom Hart)

UK – Zack Thompson (Fr., LHP) – 3 games, 3 starts; 1-1, 2.70 ERA, 16.2 IP, 12 H, 6 R, 5 BB, 23 K

Murray St. – Trevor McMurray (Fr., RHP) – 3 games, 3 starts; 1-1, 7.15 ERA, 11.1 IP, 13 H, 9 R, 3 BB, 14 K