LEXINGTON ? The Kentucky baseball team dominated every facet of the game on Saturday night to score a 6-2 win and even the series with No. 23 Auburn at Applebee?s Park.
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 18-15 overall and 2-11 in the Southeastern Conference. It is Kentucky?s third win over a ranked foe in the past two weeks. Auburn drops to 24-14 on the year, including 7-7 in the league. The team?s meet in the rubber match on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Kentucky will send freshman Andrew Albers (3-3, 5.62 ERA) to the mound against Auburn freshman Cliff Mullins (1-0, 2.35). The game can be heard on WLXO 96.1-FM in the Lexington area as well as online at www.UKathletics.com.
?There were some little tiny mistakes, but I was really pleased with our performance tonight,? Kentucky coach John Cohen said. ?Our players came out and competed from the very beginning and I?m so proud of them.?
Saturday night, neither team could get much going offensively until the fifth when Auburn struck for the games first run on an RBI triple by Ben Sprague with two outs.
Kentucky answered immediately with a two-run fifth and never looked back. Michael Bertram and J.P. Lowen led off the inning with singles to start the rally. After a sacrifice bunt, Ryan Wilkes plated Bertram with a single and Antone DeJesus got Lowen home on a sac fly.
The clutch hits were the beginning of a 4-for-6 performance by Kentucky with runners in scoring position.
?Both pitchers came out and were working in the shadows and we dealt with it pretty well,? Cohen said. ?We were facing a guy who can really pitch and in the middle part of the game we got his pitch count up and started taking better swings then.?
In the seventh, Billy Grace and John Shelby laced back-to-back singles to begin the frame before a wild pitch and passed ball allowed Grace home and Shelby to third. Lowen drove in Shelby with a single up the middle for a 4-1 lead before Wilkes? sacrifice fly brought home Michael Bertram, who had walked prior to Lowen?s at bat.
J.B. Schmidt drew a lead off walk and Bertram scored him on a two-out single for Kentucky?s final run of the game.
Brock Baber, who entered in the sixth inning and had been nearly flawless, made things interesting with two outs in the ninth by giving up back-to-back hits. It was the first time in the game Auburn strung together consecutive hits. He went three innings and gave up a single run on four hits while striking out three.
After a throwing error by Wilkes allowed a run to score, Scott Green came in and slammed the door with a strike out of Clete Thomas. It was Green?s second save of the year.
The solid bullpen performance preserved the win for starter Aaron Tennyson, who turned in a sterling performance. The Milan, Mich., native worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run on four hits while walking just one. He improved to 4-1 on the season.
?I was so pleased with our pitching,? Cohen said. ?Tennyson came in and just threw strikes and Brock came in and just threw strikes as well. Then Scott Green comes in and closes it out again.?
Auburn starter Josh Sullivan took the loss after being roughed up for five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. He walked three and struck out two.
Notes
Kentucky won its second straight Saturday SEC game ? Both of Kentucky?s SEC wins have come with Scott Green striking out the game?s final batter to earn the save ? Kentucky had not led by more than two runs in an SEC game before Saturday?s win ? Michael Bertram had his second straight two-hit performance ? All 10 of Kentucky?s hits were singles ? Auburn did not have back-to-back base hits until the ninth inning ? Kentucky threw out three Auburn base runners attempting to steal, including Clete Thomas, who was 17-for-17 entering the game, twice.
Kentucky 6, Auburn 2
April 16, 2005
Lexington, Ky.
Auburn – 000 010 001 – 2 10 0 (24-14, 7-7 SEC)
Kentucky – 000 023 10X – 6 10 1 (18-15, 2-11 SEC)
Pitchers: Auburn – Sullivan, J.; Blake(6); Nicely(7). Kentucky – A. Tennyson; B. Baber(6); S. Green(9).
Win-A. Tennyson(4-1) Save-S. Green(2) Loss-Sullivan, J.(6-3) T-2:52 A-1056
