SAN ANTONIO ? The Kentucky baseball team opened the season with a pair of victories over Army and San Antonio on Friday on a blustery day at Wolff Stadium.
The Wildcats moved to 2-0 for the third time in five years by combining to outscore their opponents 19-4 in the two games.
Kentucky returns to action on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET when it faces Army. The weekend wraps up with a 11 a.m. ET game against UT–San Antonio.
Kentucky 9, Army 0: Kentucky scored four runs in the first inning and rode a strong pitching performance from Aaron Tennyson to a season-opening 9-0 victory over Army.
Tennyson worked seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits while fanning six and walking one. With the win, he improved to 7-1 over the past two seasons.
Billy Grace provided the big swing in the first, a towering three-run homer to right-centerfield. The long ball gave UK a 4-0 lead after Antone DeJesus turned a leadoff walk into a run on a Brian Hastings groundout.
The Wildcats added a run in the second when Ryan Wilkes scored on a DeJesus sac fly to make it 5-0. Wilkes returned the favor with a sac fly in the fifth. Black Knight starter Nick Hill, a 2005 All-American after posting a 10-2 record, was roughed up for six runs on six hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out just three.
Kentucky tacked on two more in the sixth for an 8-0 lead and a leadoff double by Michael Bertram turned into the final run of the game in the eighth.
Grace and Collin Cowgill each had a pair of hits as UK pounded out eight for the game. The Wildcats took advantage of four Black Knight errors to score a pair of unearned runs.
Dewayne Oxford made his first appearance as a Wildcat, hurling the final two innings to close out the victory.
The win was Kentucky?s third straight to open a season and its seventh straight over a non-conference foe. It was also the 200th for UK skipper John Cohen in his career.
Kentucky 10, UT-San Antonio 4: Kentucky?s bullpen hurled six shutout innings while UTSA?s gave up seven runs in three innings and the Wildcats cruised to a 10-4 victory in their second game of the day.
After falling behind 4-1 through three innings, UK turned the ball over the Craig Snipp who was dominant on the mound. He worked six scoreless innings, giving up six hits and fanning five to earn the win in his first appearance of the year.
Snipp kept Kentucky close as the bats warmed up. UTSA starter Josh Ruffin was in control for four innings before the Wildcats began to get to him. Ryan Strieby drew a two-out walk and Sean Coughlin launched a two-run homer over the scoreboard in right field to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Ruffin worked one more inning, but was pulled after the sixth and UK went to work. The Wildcats scored three in the seventh and four in the eighth while batting around in both innings to turn a close game into a blow out.
Strieby and Coughlin were the big bats, combining for five hits, four RBIs and six runs scored. Three of the five hits went for extra bases as Strieby laced a pair of doubles to go along with Coughlin?s homer. Trying to stop the bleeding, the Roadrunners used six pitchers in the game.
Notes: Kentucky won its season opener for the third straight year, the first time that has happened since 1989-91 ? Coach John Cohen got his 200th career win as a head coach (54 at Kentucky) in game one ? Aaron Tennyson won his fourth straight decision dating back to last year and is 7-1 since the beginning of 2005 ? Tennyson?s quality start was the first of his career ? Billy Grace homered in his first at bat of the season for the second time in his career ? Grace recorded the 10th three-RBI game of his career ? Sean Coughlin hit his first home run in a Kentucky uniform ? Antone DeJesus extended his hitting streak to nine games, dating back to last season ? Michael Bertram had two sacrifices, giving him 19 for his career, just five shy of the school record ? Craig Snipp tied a career-high with six innings pitched ? In game one, Kentucky started two newcomers in the field: Ryan Strieby at first and Matt McKinney at third.
