Kentucky belted a season-high 10 extra-base hits en route to a 12-11 victory over rival Louisville in a shootout Wednesday night at Cardinal Stadium.
The win is the second straight for the Wildcats which improved to 14-9 on the year. Kentucky now turns its attention to a three-game set with seventh-ranked Florida which begins Friday night at 6:30 p.m. in a game that can be heard in Lexington on WLXO 1580-AM.
Louisville, which took two of three from then-No. 1 Tulane over the weekend, fell to 14-8 on the year. The Wildcats have won six of their last eight meetings with the Cardinals.
John Shelby led a potent Kentucky attack that saw all nine starters record a hit and seven of them tally at least two. Shelby finished 3-for-4 and launched his fourth home run in the last 10 games. He fell a double shy of hitting for the cycle and finished with a team-high three RBI.
Shelby?s performance led the one of the biggest offensive outputs of the season. The Wildcats had 17 hits and a season-high 33 total bases off them. The 10 extra-base hits came off six doubles, a season-high three triples and a home run. All of the numbers came as juniors Brian Hastings and Billy Grace, who rank 1-2 on the team in hitting, sat out due to injury.
The game looked to be a blowout early as the Wildcats built a 6-2 lead after two innings. In the second, Kentucky sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs ? five with two outs. Antone DeJesus got the scoring started with a two-run double and he scored on J.B. Schmidt?s two-out double. Kevin Caldwell later had a two-run single and Jesse Barber capped the rally with a run-scoring single.
However, Louisville would not go away, scoring once in the third and cutting the lead to 6-5 in the fourth on a two-run home run by Boomer Whiting off starter Alex Jordan.
Kentucky answered right back with a pair of three-run outbursts in the fifth and sixth to stretch the lead to 12-5. Shelby?s tape-measure home run over the wall in center, which stands 400 feet from home plate, scored the first two runs of the fifth. DeJesus followed with a triple and Ryan Wilkes brought him home with a single for the third run of the inning.
In the sixth, Collin Cowgill led off with a single and scored on Shaun Lehmann?s triple. After Lehmann came home on a wild pitch, Justin Scutchfield was hit by a pitch and Shelby drove him in with a triple to right-center.
With the game seemingly out of reach, Louisville responded with five runs in the home half of the sixth. The Cardinals chased reliever Craig Snipp by tagging him for four runs and got to Aaron Tennyson for another run in the frame.
The big blows in the inning came off a two-run single by J.T. LaFountain and a two-run double by Isaiah Howes. Daniel Burton, who finished 4-for-5, capped the scoring with an RBI single.
The lead dwindled to 12-11 when Tennyson allowed a single run in the eighth before Brock Baber entered to close out the game.
Baber worked the final 1 2/3 innings and allowed just one hit to earn his third save of the season ? and second in as many nights. He threw four innings of one-hit ball Tuesday night against Georgetown.
Despite allowing four runs in two innings, Snipp earned the win and improved to 2-1 on the season. Jake Smith took the loss after lasting only 1 2/3 innings and giving up five runs on four hits.
Notes: Kentucky won for the second straight outing ? Kentucky?s seven hits in the second were the most in an inning for the Wildcats this year ? Kentucky recorded a season high with three triples, 10 extra-base hits and 33 total bases ? Kentucky?s 17 hits were its second most of the season ? John Shelby has 10 hits in his last four games and has raised his average 42 points to .341 in that span ? Shelby tied a career high with eight total bases ? Seven Wildcats recorded multi-hit games ? Shelby, Antone DeJesus and Kevin Caldwell each had multi-RBI games ? Brock Baber has two saves in his last two outings ? Baber has allowed just two hits in his last 5 2/3 innings of work.
