LEXINGTON ? The 21st-ranked Kentucky baseball team hits the road on Wednesday to try and complete a season sweep of rival Louisville on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Patterson Stadium.
The Wildcats have won three straight against the Cardinals and nine of the last 12 overall. A season sweep over U of L would be the second straight for UK in the series.
Kentucky (26-10) plans to send sophomore left-hander Andrew Albers (2-2, 10.64) to the mound. The southpaw has not made a start this year after being a weekend starter a year ago.
Over the weekend, UK dropped two of three on the road at Southeastern Conference foe Arkansas. However, the Wildcats have won six straight mid-week games, including two weeks ago against Louisville.
In that game, Antone DeJesus laced a walk-off single to secure a 5-4 victory. Collin Cowgill and Billy Grace each had a pair of hits and two RBIs in the game as well.
Kentucky owns the all-time series 59-29-1.
Records
Kentucky ? 26-10, 8-7 SEC
Louisville ? 16-20, 7-5 Big East
Rankings
Kentucky ? No. 21 Baseball America
Louisville – not ranked
Schedule (times Eastern)
Louisville, Ky. (Patterson Stadium ? 2,500)
Wednesday, April 18 at Louisville * 6 p.m.
Radio
WLAP 630-AM in Lexington
Pitching Match-Ups
Wednesday vs. Louisville
LHP Andrew Albers, So. (2-2, 10.64) vs. TBA
Projected UK Line-Up (Avg-HR-RBI)
C (L) Sean Coughlin (.339-8-31)
-or- (R) Justin Scutchfield (.211-0-7)
1B (R) Ryan Strieby (.368-10-49)
2B (R) John Shelby (.230-9-32)
3B (L) Michael Bertram (.345-4-24)
-or- (R) Matt McKinney (.281-1-11)
SS (S) Ryan Wilkes (.252-1-13)
LF (R) Shaun Lehmann (.209-5-16)
CF (L) Antone DeJesus (.376-2-21)
RF (R) Collin Cowgill (.336-8-32)
DH (L) Billy Grace (.291-5-24)
-or- Brian Hastings (.283-0-13)
Quick Notes
? At No. 21 in the latest Baseball America poll, Kentucky has been ranked each of the past five weeks, reaching as high as No. 19 last weekend.
? Of the 14 main statistical categories, Kentucky leads the SEC in seven, including runs per game at 8.7 per game. The Wildcats are also first in on-base percentage, slugging, RBIs, home runs, doubles and walks.
? First baseman Ryan Strieby is one of only two players in the SEC to rank in the top 10 in the league in each of the traditional triple-crown categories of batting average (8th), home runs (5th) and RBIs (1st). He also leads the SEC in doubles with 16 and is third in runs scored, slugging and on-base percentage.
? Center fielder Antone DeJesus has been the best leadoff hitter in the SEC this year. He has posted a .481 on-base percentage, which is tops in the SEC among leadoff men and fifth overall. That has translated into him scoring a league-high 44 runs.
? In the earlier meeting between Kentucky and Louisville this year, the Wildcats won 5-4 on an Antone DeJesus walk-off single.
? Kentucky coach John Cohen is 4-1 against Louisville and is going for his second straight season sweep over the Cardinals.
? This is the first visit for UK to Louisville?s new Patterson Stadium. Last year, the Wildcats pounded out 10 extra-base hits at Old Cardinal Stadium in a 13-12 victory.
? Cohen was ejected from the UK-UL game earlier this year for arguing a no-call of a balk.
Kentucky head coach John Cohen quotes On playing Louisville ? ?It seems whenever we play them it?s a close game that has some strange things happen. Of course it?s a rivalry game and that always brings something extra to the game and it?s great for the fans. But, we?re trying to take it like every other game and focus one pitch at a time, one inning at a time. We can?t get caught up in the emotion of it and lose our focus against a good Louisville club.?
On the earlier game this year ? ?It was a typical UK-Louisville game. It was close and both teams fought to the end and we were fortunate enough to come out on top. We got a tremendous outing from Chris Rusin on the mound that day and then Antone came through in the clutch for us. I wouldn?t expect anything different (Wednesday).?
On pitching the game ? ?We?re going to throw just about everybody on the staff for an inning. Andrew Albers will start, but you probably won?t see him go past two innings unless he?s just really going good. The middle of the week games are a chance for us to get some guys work, but we want to keep them fresh for this weekend against South Carolina.?
