LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky broke open a tie game with a five-run seventh inning as the No. 25 Kentucky baseball team put the finishing touches on a sweep of the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles in front of 1,734 fans at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Kentucky?s 7-0 start equals the third best start in the 103-year history of the Kentucky baseball program. The 2000 squad began its season with 15 consecutive wins before finishing the season 38-20-1.
Kentucky (7-0) drew 12 walks and plated eight unanswered runs after allowing three Tennessee Tech runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game. UK gave the Golden Eagles fits on the basepaths, stealing six bases on the day, including three from freshman outfielder Jason Kipnis and two from senior Mike Brown. The Wildcats utilized four walks and one triple from Kipnis to plate its five runs in the seventh and stretch the game beyond the reach of Tennessee Tech, who fall to 3-3 on the year.
Kentucky starter Greg Dombrowski struck out a career-high tying seven Tennessee Tech batters before giving way to reliever Aaron Lovett. Lovett (2-0) notched his second win of the season, tossing two innings of no-hit ball, striking out four Tennessee Tech hitters while utilizing a nasty curveball to keep hitters off balance.
Dombrowski, a preseason All-American, worked six innings and got the Golden Eagles to hit into eight ground outs, after a week ago forcing Furman into 14 ground outs. Tyler Henry closed out the contest, striking out one, bringing UK?s strikeout total to 12, while the three hurlers combined to only walk one batter.
The Wildcats got a two-hit performance from infielder Brian Spear and four Wildcats drew two walks apiece, boosting UK to the win despite only out-hitting Tennessee Tech 7-6. Sawyer Carroll, Sean Coughlin, Tyler Howe, and Brian Spear drove in two runs apiece for UK. Kentucky was also hit by four pitches on the day.
Tennessee Tech reliever Blake Forst took the lost, after allowing the two deciding runs in only 1 1/3 innings of work.
Kentucky plated the first run of the contest after Antone DeJesus ripped his second triple of the season. Carroll, who has opened the season 12-for-26 at the plate with 11 RBI, drove in DeJesus.
After a scoreless inning and a half, UK notched two more runs in the fifth. Coughlin and Brock Wright walked and Howe doubled to load the bases for Spear. The Wichita State transfer got hit by a pitch to bring in Coughlin. Ryan Wilkes drove in Howe with a sacrifice fly to give UK a 3-0 advantage.
Dombrowski tossed another scoreless inning in the sixth, before the Golden Eagles evened the score in the top of the seventh. Tate McMillan led off with a single and a singles from Michael Roeder and Steve Soper allowed Jake New to plate two on a single and an error credited to the Kentucky first basemen, Carroll.
Lovett relieved Dombrowski after the two runs, getting the first out of the inning on a on a fly out that plated Roeder to tie the game at three. Lovett worked out of the inning, striking out two batters to leave the game deadlocked after seven and a half frames.
While the season may be young, Kentucky has proved to be skilled at comeback wins, as the Wildcats plated the next seven runs to give UK the comfortable win. Kipnis tripled, his third of the year, to score Spear and give UK the lead. The Wildcats never looked back as four walks were drawn in the inning and UK took advantage of two Tennessee Tech errors to plate its five runs in the seventh.
Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday with a 4 p.m. EST matchup with the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. Fans can catch the action on WXRA 1580-AM in Lexington or online at UKathletics.com.
