STARKVILLE, Miss. — Mississippi State erased a four-run UK lead and scored seven runs in the seventh inning to take the opening game of the three-game set from No. 8 Kentucky 10-7, on a beautiful Friday night at Dudy Noble Field.
Kentucky (23-3-1, 3-3-1 Southeastern Conference) took the hard luck loss after leading through the first 7 ? innings. Starter Chris Rusin put up a solid performance, working six innings and only allowing four hits, and three runs. Rusin struck out six to bring his season total for strikeouts to a club-best 41.
At the plate, senior Sean Coughlin, Ryan Wilkes, and Brock Wright each charted a two-hit game. Coughlin, the NCAA leader in RBI, drove in one run to bring his season total to 48. Wright provided a ninth-inning solo home run as part of a last-ditch effort for UK, his fifth of the season. Wilkes finished the game 2-for-3, scoring two runs and knocking one double. The Wildcats also swiped three bases during the game, with Jason Kipnis, Wilkes, and Wright each notching a stolen bag.
Mississippi State (17-6, 4-3 SEC) reliever Greg Houston notched the win to improve to 1-0, while UK freshman Tyler Henry took his first career loss, to fall to 0-1 on the campaign. The Wildcats utilized five relievers after the Bulldogs chased Rusin from the game in the seventh.
Kentucky scored in the top of the first, as leadoff hitter Antone DeJesus drew a five-pitch walk, advanced into scoring position on a balk, and came around to score on Mike Brown?s 23rd RBI of the season – a single through the left side of the infield. A Sawyer Carroll sacrifice put Brown in position to be driven in by Matt McKinney on an RBI single.
UK struck again in the second, as Wilkes worked a seven-pitch walk. Wright, a freshman outfielder from Paducah, Ky., drove in his 13th RBI of the season and his first career RBI in SEC play, plating Wilkes to make it 3-0 UK.
Kentucky pushed across one more run in the fourth after Kipnis singled through the right side and came around to score after Wright forced a fielding error with a hard-hit grounder off the glove of the MSU second baseman to make it 4-0 Kentucky.
Mississippi State got on the board for the first time in the fourth, as Joseph Moreland drew a walk and Brandon Turner drove him in with a single just out of reach of UK?s first baseman, Carroll.
Kentucky scored another run in the sixth, as Wright led off getting hit by a pitch and coming around to score on Coughlin?s NCAA leading 48th RBI of the season, to make it 5-1 UK.
Mississippi State broke the game open in the seventh, scoring seven runs on five hits and three walks to take a 8-5 lead.
MSU tacked onto its lead in the eighth, as Cade Hoggard reached on a single and scored on an Edward Easley RBI single. Easley came around to touch home after Joseph McCaskill knocked a single into right field to make it 10-5.
Kentucky rallied in its last inning, narrowing the MSU lead to 10-7. Wilkes led off the inning with a double to the right-center field gap and after a passed ball, scored on a Kipnis RBI ground out. Wright followed with a solo home run, his fifth of the season, over the left field wall for the final margin.
Kentucky returns to action on Saturday with a 3 p.m. EDT matchup with Mississippi State. Fans in Lexington can catch the action live on WLAP 630-AM via the Big Blue Sports Network, with Neil Price on the call.
