GREENVILLE, S.C. — Led by the arm of Andrew Albers and the bats of Antone DeJesus and Ryan Wilkes, the No. 26 Kentucky baseball team began the 2007 season with a 12-1 trashing of the Furman Paladins, on a sunny afternoon at Furman Stadium.
?I was really pleased with what we did offensively today,? Kentucky head coach John Cohen said. ?We had a few more strikeouts then we wanted but we had some really good at bats, some walks, and some crucial hit-by-pitches. We got the ball to the middle of the field and hit it hard. I fully expect that Furman is going to come out strong tomorrow. Furman is a good baseball team and they are going to come out and give us their very best effort. It is going to be a very difficult game for us tomorrow.?
Wilkes paced the Wildcat batters with a 3-for-4 performance while DeJesus delivered the highlight of the afternoon, a grand slam in the top of the sixth – the first of his career.
?Antone DeJesus really swung the bat well today,? Cohen said. ?He has got to be a line drive, ground ball hitter for us. If he is going to hit a fly ball then it is good for that ball to leave the park. Even if that ball does not go out, he really had a great at-bat.
?Ryan is much better at the plate then he was the last couple of years,? Cohen said. ?He has really turned the corner and committed himself to becoming a better offensive player. Of course, Ryan Wilkes is always going to be a great defender but we also want him to become an excellent hitter and he is not far from really having a breakout year.?
Albers hurled five innings, allowing only two hits and zero runs, while striking out four Paladins batters.
?I was very pleased with Andrew Albers performance today,? Cohen said. ?He really pitched well for us for about four innings and then after that, maybe because he hasn?t pitched too awful much, I thought he ran out of gas a little bit. He showed tremendous leadership on the mound and allowed our defense to make plays.?
Kentucky (1-0) got the scoring started at its first opportunity, as DeJesus led off the 2007 season with a triple to right center. The next batter, junior college transfer Sawyer Carroll, drove in DeJesus for his first RBI as a Wildcat, via a groundout to second base to give UK an early 1-0 lead.
After getting blanked in the second inning, the Wildcats started the third with two consecutive singles off the bats of Wilkes and freshman Jason Kipnis. After a DeJesus sacrifice bunt moved the runners over to second and third, Carroll drove in his second run of the day with a double to left field. Kipnis and Carroll plated on a Matt McKinney single to stretch the lead to 4-0. Billy Grace followed with an RBI single which scored McKinney for a 5-0 advantage.
Kentucky, who has now won three consecutive season lid lifters, opened the floodgates in the sixth inning, beginning with a Sean Coughlin single. Brian Spear singled to left field, which advanced Coughlin to second and Wilkes followed with an RBI single. Kipnis got hit by a pitch, loading the bases for the UK centerfielder. DeJesus strolled to the plate, worked the count to 2-2 and then connected on a rocket which soared over the right-field fence to give UK a nearly insurmountable 10-0 lead.
Wilkes led off the eighth inning with a double down the left-field line. Mike Brown pinch ran for Wilkes and Kipnis advanced Brown to third with a single to right. Freshman Brock Wright pinch-hit for DeJesus and picked up where the junior left off with a powerful double down the left-field line, scoring Brown and Kipnis.
Junior college transfer Aaron Lovett relieved Albers after the big sixth inning and filled in nicely, tossing four innings, allowing one hit and one run. The Paladins began connecting with Lovett in the eighth, as Joey Rodgers led off the inning with a triple. Rodgers scored as the next batter, Connor Lind singled up the middle for the final margin 12-1.
Furman (0-1) ace Matt Klinker took the loss after allowing seven runs on eight hits through 5 2/3 innings of work.
Game two of the series resumes on Saturday as UK squares off with the Paladins at 1 p.m. ET. Fans can catch the action on WXRA 1580-AM in Lexington, with Dick Gabriel on the call.
