BRADENTON, Fla. ? Kentucky spotted Miami (Ohio) five runs in the first and was unable to complete the rally in a 6-5 loss on Tuesday night at Randy C. Wynn Field.
The Wildcats lost their consecutive games for the first time this year and fell to 12-4. The Redhawks, who won two of three from Alabama over the weekend, improved to 5-7. Kentucky travels to Tuscaloosa for a three-game set with the Crimson Tide this weekend. The first game is Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET and can be heard on WXRA 1580-AM in the Lexington area as well as online at www.UKathletics.com.
Defensive mistakes cost the Wildcats as three errors turned into four unearned runs for the Redhawks. The opening two batters of the game reached on a error by shortstop John Shelby and a catchers interference, respectively. Both came home to score to spark a five-run first in which no Miami ball reached the outfield.
After the inning, Kentucky starter Alex Jordan settled down to shutdown the Redhawk offense for the next four-plus innings. Jordan allowed just two more hits in the next 4 2/3 innings while striking out four in that span. He did suffer the loss and fell to 0-2 on the year.
?I was really pleased with the way Alex Jordan responded tonight,? said Kentucky coach John Cohen. ?The ball didn?t bounce his way in the first inning and he came back and threw great after that. He really kept us in the game.?
Craig Snipp relieved Jordan in the sixth and went the final 2 1/3 innings allowing one unearned run on two hits. He struck out two. Snipp has yet to allow an earned run this year.
Trailing 5-0, the Wildcats slowly chipped away at the lead, but were never able to come up with the big inning. John Shelby got Kentucky on the board first with a tape-measure home run to left field in the second.
?I thought our focus tonight was tremendous,? Cohen said. ?We could have folded after spotting them five runs, but our players battled and never gave up on the game.?
The Wildcats added single runs in the fifth and seventh on run-scoring singles by Shaun Lehmann and J.B. Schmidt to chip the lead to 5-3.
Miami took advantage of Kentucky?s third error to add an insurance run in the seventh. John Slone singled to lead off and went to third on an errant pick off attempt. Geoff Orr then drove him home with a bloop single to right.
Kentucky rallied in the eighth with a pair of runs to slice the lead to 6-5 but could get no closer. Billy Grace and John Shelby belted back-to-back one out doubles and Kevin Caldwell had a pinch-hit RBI single for the two runs.
The Wildcats went quietly in the ninth as Connor Graham earned his first save of the year. Starter Keith Weiser, the Miami ace, earned his first win of the year after allowing four runs in 7 1/3 innings.
