Nashville, (Tenn.) ? Vanderbilt scored three times in the seventh and four more in the eighth, coming from behind to beat Kentucky, 11-5, on Sunday afternoon in Nashville. The game was the last for Kentucky in 2004, which finished with a 24-30 mark, including 7-23 in Southeastern Conference play. Vanderbilt improves to 39-16, 16-14 in the SEC.
?Our team competed as hard today as it has in a while, and we?re happy with that,? said UK head coach John Cohen. ?Losses are always tough to take when you?re a competitor like I am, but I?m very excited about a lot of the things that are in place for the future of Kentucky baseball.?
Kentucky freshman Billy Grace got the scoring started in the top of the first inning, tagging Vanderbilt starting pitcher Matt Buschmann for an opposite-field home run to left. The solo blast was Grace?s fifth of the season and gave UK an early 1-0 lead.
UK extended its led to 2-0 in the top of the second as Spencer Graeter singled to lead off the inning and scored on a Joe Naill ground out.
Naill delivered for the Cats in the top of the fourth, lacing a double off the wall in left-center field to score both Graeter and Jake Kungl, giving Kentucky a 4-0 advantage.
Vanderbilt?s Warner Jones, the Southeastern Conference?s leading hitter with a .421 average entering the game, cut the UK lead in half in the bottom of the fourth when he launched his ninth home run of the season to straightaway centerfield. The two-run homer scored Antoan Richardson, who had led the inning off with a single. The Commodores tacked on a third run in the inning as Tony Mansolino doubled to score Mike Baxter, making it a 4-3 game.
Vandy loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth, chasing UK starter Kalen Gibson from the mound in the process. Reliever James Rodriquez came on to bail the Wildcats out of the jam, striking out Mike Baxter with two outs to strand the bases loaded and preserve a 4-3 lead.
UK tacked on another run in the seventh when Aaron Edwards doubled to left to lead off and was replaced by pinch-runner J.B. Schmidt, who moved to third on John Shelby?s sacrifice bunt. Grace then lofted a fly ball to left field that scored Schmidt from third and extended the Wildcat lead to 5-3.
Vanderbilt took the lead, 6-5, in the home half of the seventh as Jonathan Douillard singled, Ryan Klosterman was hit by a pitch and Richardson walked to load the bases. Cesar Nicolas doubled with one out to score both Douillard and Klosterman, tying the game at 5-5. Mike Baxter?s sacrifice fly to left scored Richardson with the go-ahead run.
Richardson hit a three-run bomb in the bottom of the eighth, followed by a solo shot from Jones. Jones? home run was his 96th hit of the season, setting the Vanderbilt school-record for hits in a single season. Klosterman singled to score Worth Scott earlier in the inning. When the dust had settled in the eighth, Vandy had scored five runs on four hits and led, 11-5.
Graeter was 3-for-4 in the game, giving him 233 hits in his four-year career at Kentucky, the fourth-most in school history. Senior Caleb Stewart was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, ending his career with a hit in each of his final 13 games. Fellow senior Naill was 1-for-4 with three RBI.
Vanderbilt reliever Stephen Shao (4-0) earned his fourth win of the season. Jensen Lewis picked up his first save. Rodriquez (3-6) took the loss for Kentucky.
UK showed significant improvement in virtually every offensive category in 2004. The Wildcats scored more runs and had more hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, total bases, walks and hit by pitches than a season ago.
— UK –
