Records
Kentucky ? 20-5, 4-2 SEC
Morehead State ? 9-13, 1-1 Ohio Valley
Rankings
Kentucky ? No. 20 Baseball America
Morehead State ? not ranked
Schedule (times Eastern)
Lexington, Ky. (Cliff Hagan Stadium ? 3,000)
Wednesday, March 29 vs. Morehead State * 6:30 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets are available by calling the UK Ticket Office at (859) 257-1818.
Pitching Match-Ups
Tuesday vs. Morehead State
LHP Chris Rusin, Fr. (2-0, 3.00) vs. RHP Tyler Lee, Jr. Tyler Lee (0-0, 9.77)
Projected UK Line-Up (Avg-HR-RBI)
C (L) Sean Coughlin (.311-6-19)
-or- (R) Justin Scutchfield (.222-0-7)
1B (R) Ryan Strieby (.371-5-34)
2B (R) John Shelby (.243-5-23)
3B (L) Michael Bertram (.346-2-15)
-or- (R) Matt McKinney (.378-0-8)
SS (S) Ryan Wilkes (.284-0-10)
LF (R) Shaun Lehmann (.224-4-12)
CF (L) Antone DeJesus (.387-2-19)
RF (R) Collin Cowgill (.333-5-24)
DH (L) Billy Grace (.328-4-17)
Quick Notes
? At No. 20 in the latest Baseball America poll, Kentucky has its highest ranking March 2000.
? Kentucky has won back-to-back SEC series to open conference play for the first time since 1992.
? Kentucky has already reached the 20-win plateau in just 25 games. By contrast, it took until game 38 of last season for the Wildcats to hit the 20-win mark.
? With a win over Morehead State, Kentucky would improve to 21-5 and match the best start in its 102-year history of baseball.
? Antone DeJesus is the reigning SEC Player of the Week after leading UK to a series win over No. 12 Tennessee. He is the second straight Wildcat to earn the honor and the third in four weeks.
? DeJesus is riding a team-best six-game win streak. He has the longest streak on the team this year at 12.
? Ryan Strieby leads the SEC and ranks fourth in the nation in doubles with 13.
? Kentucky leads the SEC with 15 quality starts this year. Greg Dombrowski leads the team and is tied for league lead with six. Wednesday starter Chris Rusin has two, coming in his last two outings.
? Kentucky scores 73.5 percent of the time when putting the leadoff man on base.
? Kentucky has walked an SEC-high 149 times while being hit by 40 pitches as well. In fact, UK has scored 77 runs from players who reached via BB or HBP. That number is nearly as high as its opponent overall run total for the season of 89.
No. 20 Kentucky Returns Home Against Morehead State
LEXINGTON ? After winning back-to-back Southeastern Conference series, the 20th-ranked Kentucky baseball team takes a break from the league to host Morehead State on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Over the weekend, the Wildcats traveled to No. 12 Tennessee and took two of three from the Vols to improve to 4-2 in the conference for the first time since 1996. The series victory propelled UK into the top 20 for the first time in five years.
Antone DeJesus was the offensive catalyst in the series and it earned him SEC Player of the Week honors. The sophomore center fielder had five extra-base hits and scored six runs while also stealing three bases during the series. However, his most important play came defensively when he tracked down a ball in the gap with a diving effort at the warning track to prevent a two-run double early in game two.
The Wildcats pitching continues to excel as well. Greg Dombrowski pitched a complete game, allowing only one run in Sunday?s win while Craig Snipp and Brock Baber combined to hold the Vols to a single run on Saturday.
At 20-5, Kentucky is off it its second-best start in its 102-year history and can match the 2000 team for the best start in school annals with a win Wednesday. That team began the season 21-5 in route to a 38-20-1 finish.
Freshman lefty Chris Rusin (2-0, 3.00) will get the nod for UK against junior right-hander Bill Konecny (1-1, 5.62). Last week Rusin earned his second straight win by tossing five innings without surrendering a run against Xavier.
The Wildcats have been an offensive juggernaut thus far this season topping the Southeastern Conference in eight of 14 statistical categories, including runs per game, on-base percentage, slugging, home runs, and doubles.
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Morehead 38-24. Last season, the Eagles escaped Lexington with a 12-5 victory.
