Lewis Nearly Makes History in Sunday Gem

The 2017 season did not get off to a great start for Kentucky’s Justin Lewis. Making his first career start on Sunday of the season’s opening weekend, Lewis gave up five earned runs in just two innings of work in a loss to No. 9 North Carolina. 

But to say that he has bounced back in his last two outings would be a huge understatement. And in Sunday’s 12-1 win over No. 23 UC Santa Barbara, Lewis came close to making history.

The redshirt sophomore was perfect through seven innings in Sunday’s win before giving up a leadoff homer to UC Santa Barbara first baseman Austin Bush to lead off the eighth inning. The homer not only broke up the no-hitter and perfect game, it also ended Lewis’ string of 14 consecutive scoreless innings. It would be the only hit Lewis would allow in eight innings, which included eight strikeouts.

“He was dialed in, from pitch one, he was really dialed in, you could tell,” said catcher Troy Squires, who was behind the plate to witness Lewis’ gem. “He had a lot of confidence in his fastball and his off-speed stuff. When a guy is going good like that, you just kind of let him do his thing.”

Lewis got off to a quick start on Sunday, striking out the first batter he faced and adding a second punch-out later in the inning. He would go on to strike out five of the first eight batters he faced on the day.

UCSB hit a few balls sharply, but didn’t have a serious chance at a hit until the top of the sixth. In that inning, Gauchos’ designated hitter Clay Fisher hit a sharp line drive to left field that Zach Reks was able to snag. One out later, UCSB shortstop Tevin Mitchell hit the ball hard, but UK third baseman Luke Becker dove to his left, got up and threw Mitchell out at first, thanks to a nice scoop from first baseman Evan White.

It was at about that point that Lewis realized he was still perfect on the day. 

“I didn’t really think about it until the sixth inning,” Lewis said. “I was down 3-0 or 3-1 to a guy and came back and struck him out. I started thinking that no one had been on base because I hadn’t pitched out of the stretch at all.”

Lewis was attempting to throw Kentucky’s first no-hitter since John Bowling did the trick to Georgia State on April 9, 1974. Alas, it was not meant to be.

As for the game itself, there was never any real doubt about the outcome. White hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first, his third round-tripper of the season, and Kentucky added four runs in the second inning to build a quick 5-0 lead. From there, it was just a matter of time before the Wildcats completed their first three-game sweep of a nationally-ranked opponent since Kentucky swept South Carolina March 16-18, 2012.

Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione likes what he’s seeing from his team early in the season.

“This whole week has been really special,” Mingione said. “I think we’ve given up five runs in five games. I feel really good about our starting pitching and the guys out of the bullpen have done a good job as well. I think guys are starting to get more comfortable, especially offensively.”

As for Lewis’ effort on Sunday, Mingione thought his sophomore righty was outstanding.

“He made some really good pitches,” Mingione said of Lewis. “The ball the guy hit out was a really good pitch. Boy, (Lewis) was special today. He threw all three pitches for strikes and I thought our defense played really good behind him as well.”

After his tough first outing of the season, Lewis knew he had to make a change. It turns out the adjustment he needed was mental rather than physical.

“My mental approach,” Lewis said when asked what he changed. “No mechanical changes at all. Just the mindset that ‘you’re good, you belong here’ and that’s all I really changed.”

The mental change has provided a much better Justin Lewis over the last two games. If he can pitch anywhere near his last two performances, it could be a big year for him, and the Cats.