LEXINGTON ? On a night reserved for honoring Kentucky?s nine seniors, juniors Sean Coughlin, John Shelby, and Ryan Strieby stepped up with three solo home runs to lift the seventh-ranked Wildcats to a 3-2 win over No. 19 Mississippi State in front of 2,027 fans at Cliff Hagan Stadium Saturday night.
Kentucky (39-11, 18-8 SEC) earns its school-record seventh SEC series win of the season and remained two games up in the Southeastern Conference race over Alabama. With the win, UK also held onto a three-game lead over Georgia in the Eastern Division and can clinch a share of the championship on Sunday.
The victory is the Wildcats? seventh straight win overall and their 11th consecutive home win. Over the past four weeks, UK has been the hottest team in the nation, winning 14th of its last 15 games, including 11 of its last 12 in the SEC.
The Wildcats go for their third SEC series sweep of the season Sunday when they face off with the Bulldogs at 1 p.m. EDT. Kentucky sends SEC wins leader Greg Dombrowski (9-1, 2.28 ERA) to the mound in search of his 10th victory of the season. Dombrowski, also the league leader in earned-run average, has won his last three starts. He will face Mississippi State righty Chad Crosswhite (0-1, 2.83 ERA).
On Saturday, Kentucky starter Craig Snipp earned the win after allowing only two runs on seven hits in 7 1/3 stellar innings of work. He improved to 6-3 on the season while Mississippi State starter Justin Pigott lost for the first time despite going the distance and fell to 5-1. Reliever Andrew Albers entered in the eighth for Snipp and held on for his team-leading fifth save of the season. Albers has now won or saved the last six ball games he has appeared.
The Wildcats carried over their momentum from Friday?s slugfest, as Shelby got Kentucky on the board with a solo home run over the scoreboard in right field to give UK a 1-0 lead in the second. It was his 15th homer of the year, which briefly tied Strieby for the team lead.
Kentucky continued to flex its home run muscle in the fourth as Strieby regained the team home run lead by crushing his 16th home run to make it 2-1. Coughlin, who hit two home runs in Friday?s game, would not be out done and followed with a solo shot of his own for a 3-1 UK lead. The homers marked the second consecutive game that the two sluggers have gone back-to-back.
Mississippi State (33-18, 11-14 SEC) had scored between Kentucky?s home runs, as Joseph McCaskill plated Edward Easley with an RBI single in the fourth.
The Bulldogs made it a one-run game in the eighth as Easley doubled to lead off and took third on Brian LaNinfa?s single. That brought on Albers, who allowed Easley to score from third on a ground out before slamming the door shut with 1 2/3 innings of shutout baseball.
Prior to the game, UK honored its nine-member senior class with senior day festivities. Michael Bertram, Steve Deaton, Brian Hastings, Shaun Lehmann, Adam Revelette, Matt Robinson, Justin Scutchfield, Craig Snipp and Aaron Tennyson were each presented with photos commemorating their time at Kentucky. The group has been the nucleus of the most successful team in school history as this year?s squad is in first place in the Southeastern Conference and has claimed the first top 10 ranking in school history.
Game Notes
Kentucky has now won 14 of its last 15 games including 11 of its last 12 in SEC play ? Kentucky is riding a seven-game win streak ? UK?s seven SEC series wins marks a new school record ? Kentucky?s 18 SEC victories ties a school record ? UK?s 39 overall wins is third most in school history and is now just two wins shy of the school record 41 wins set during the 1991 campaign ? Kentucky?s 11-win improvement is third best in SEC history ? Kentucky has now won 11 consecutive home contests ? John Shelby hit his 15th home run of the season in the second inning ? Ryan Strieby crushed his 16th home run of the season ? The Strieby homer marked the fourth time in the last five SEC series he homered at least twice ? Sean Coughlin hit his 14th home run of the year ? The back-to-back home runs for Coughlin and Strieby marks the second consecutive game that the two have gone back-to-back ? Coughlin has hit three home runs in a series for the second time this season, the last time coming in the Northwestern series ? Michael Bertram hit his 16th double of the season placing a shot in the right-center field gap during the fourth ? Craig Snipp won his second consecutive outing to improve to 6-3, matching his win total from his first three years combined ? Snipp earned his seventh quality start of the season ? Andrew Albers came on for Snipp in the eighth and earned his team-high fifth save of the season ? Albers five saves is tied for seventh in school history.
