LEXINGTON ? Sophomore Antone DeJesus roped a walk-off single to right-center field that plated John Shelby to lift Kentucky to a dramatic 5-4 victory over rival Louisville on Wednesday night in front of 1,912 fans at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
The win was the UK?s sixth over the Cardinals in the last seven meetings, including the third straight. The Wildcats improved to 22-6 against U of L in Lexington since 1980. Kentucky moved to 23-7 on the year while Louisville dropped to 12-17.
?What a great game and a great atmosphere,? UK head coach John Cohen said. ?The fans really came out and supported us and it gave a tremendous boost to our club. It?s really a credit to these players and how hard they?ve worked for us to have almost 2,000 people in the stands.?
In a 4-4 game entering the home half of the ninth, Shelby singled to lead off and took second when Sean Coughlin followed with a walk. A sacrifice bunt by Shaun Lehmann put both men in scoring position before Ryan Wilkes walked to load the bases. That brought up DeJesus, who had missed the last three games with a shoulder injury. The game-winning hit extended his hitting streak to seven games.
Louisville had its chance to take the lead in the ninth, rallying with back-to-back singles with two outs. However, reliever Zach Dials got Alec Lowery to line out in foul territory to end the inning. It was a microcosm of the Cards night as the team stranded 14 runners on base, including the bases loaded three times.
Two more times, U of L loaded the bases with nobody out and got only one run out of it. Already ahead 2-0 in the fourth, the threat began with two singles and a walk. However, Chris Rusin forced leadoff hitter Nick Haley into a weak grounder that he turned into a 1-2-3 double play. He got out of the inning unscathed.
?We made some great defensive plays when it really mattered,? Cohen said. ?You work out of those situations some times and you just start believing its going to happen and tonight it did.?
Kentucky tied it 2-2 in the bottom half of the inning. Collin Cowgill homered to left center and Billy Grace knocked a two-out RBI single to score Michael Bertram. Cowgill?s hit ended an 11-inning hitless streak for UK that dated back to Sunday?s game at Auburn.
The Wildcats got two more in a wild sixth inning. DeJesus was hit by a pitch and scored on Cowgill?s double. He was then picked off as broke for third on the pitcher?s first move. Cohen argued the call well after he was ejected from the game to the approval of the fans.
Bertram followed by reaching on an error and coming around on Grace?s second RBI single for a 4-2 UK lead.
The Cardinals tied the game with a two-run eighth, but were victim of a well-timed double play again that prevented them from taking the lead. With the bases full and nobody out, Chris Cates was hit by a pitch to force home one run. Logan Johnson followed with a sac fly that advanced all three runners.
With two men in scoring position, cleanup hitter Logan Johnson grounded out to third. From first base, Strieby threw behind Cates at second and caught him in a rundown for the final out of the inning.
Louisville led 2-0 after the first frame on Burton?s two-run single. By erasing the deficit, UK posted its 12th come-from-behind win of the season.
The Wildcats return to action this weekend with a three-game series against defending SEC champion Florida. Game one is Friday at 6:30 p.m.
