LEXINGTON ? Junior Shaun Lehmann went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBI to lead Kentucky to a 6-4 victory over Georgetown College on Tuesday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
With the win, the Wildcats snapped a seven-game skid and improved to 13-9 on the season. Next up for Kentucky is a 6 p.m. contest at Louisville on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Tigers fell to 11-14 on the year.
?It?s nice to get the win, but that?s not the most important thing for us,? said Kentucky head coach John Cohen. ?We have a bunch of players who just needed some game action and it was good to get them out there today.?
Lehmann got Kentucky on the board first in the second inning with a two-run shot over the right-centerfield wall that plated junior Kevin Caldwell, who singled to lead off the inning.
Kentucky pounded out nine hits despite the absence of juniors Billy Grace and Brian Hastings from the lineup. The duo are the Wildcats top two hitters this year. Hastings leads the team with a .390 average and seven doubles. Grace is second on the squad at .347 and has a team-high 11 extra-base hits. Both are sidelined with hand injuries and considered day-to-day.
?Shaun had a very good day today,? Cohen said. ?He?s a guy that we?re going to have to have step up without Billy and Brian in the lineup. He did a nice job focusing today and showed what he?s capable of at the plate.?
After Georgetown knotted the game at 2-2 in the third, Lehmann went back to work. With one out in the fourth, he beat out a bunt single and came all the way around on freshman Collin Cowgill?s triple to right-centerfield to spark a four-run outburst.
Junior J.P. Lowen brought home Cowgill with a two-run bomb to right for a 5-2 lead. Freshman Antone DeJesus followed that with a single and stolen base before racing home on senior J.B. Schmidt?s two-out single to right.
Junior Kalen Gibson earned the win after working the first four innings and allowing two runs ? neither earned ? on five hits. He was relieved in the fifth by Matt Robinson on a planned pitching substitution. The victory improved Gibson to 4-1 on the year.
?Kalen didn?t get to throw Sunday because we got rained out, so it was good for him to get out there,? Cohen said.
Robinson worked an inning before Brock Baber finished out the game by allowing a single hit and striking out six.
