Cats Mount Historic Offensive Performance on Tuesday

The Kentucky baseball team played its home opener on Tuesday after opening the season with five consecutive games on the road. And the Cats seemed to be very comfortable upon returning to Kentucky Proud Park.

UK scored seven runs in the first inning and nine more in the sixth innings on its way to a 24-3 win over Evansville. And for the Cats, contributions came from up and down the lineup.

Senior catcher Devin Burkes had a huge game, with four hits, including three doubles, while knocking in four runs and scoring five times. For Burkes, it was a simple.

“Just came out ready to play. This is what we do,” Burkes said. “We’re just always grinding out at-bats, not making it easy on the pitchers to get us out. We just stay with it, keep grinding and getting quality at-bats. We’re just trying to repeat and stack them on top of each other.”

It was a balanced effort, with contributions coming from up and down the lineup. In fact, 13 Cats scored runs in the game and 13 UK players knocked in at least one run.

It was also a historic offensive effort for the UK Baseball program. The 24 runs are the most ever scored at Kentucky Proud Park. They are the most ever scored by a Nick Mingione-coached team. The 24 runs are the most Kentucky has scored since 2014. And it was the sixth-highest total in school history.

Burkes was the standout, but he had plenty of help from his teammates. Cole Hage had three hits, including a double and a home run, while scoring three times. Freshman shortstop Tyler Bell had two doubles and scored twice. Dylan Koontz had a home run, knocked in three runs and scored twice. And Ethan Hindle had two runs knocked in and scored twice. Mingione was impressed with his team from the very start.

“I thought offensively, the game started great,” Mingione said. “We started with what we did. It was just good at-bat after good at-bat. That was the story of tonight, our ability to string together good at-bats.”

Mingione liked the versatility his offense showed on Tuesday.

“We did a little bit of everything,” he said. “You saw our bunts, you saw our baserunning, you saw our stolen bases, you saw us put balls in play, you saw us situational hit. It was our offense at our best. It was a series of guys putting together good at-bat after good at-bat.”

Mingione also liked the number of Cats who contributed in Tuesday’s win.

“I thought Devin was great, he was five for six in quality at-bats, Ethan Hindle was five for five and even the guys off the bench were eight for 10 quality at-bats,” Mingione said. “They just gave us good at-bats. Cole Hage was fantastic, Tyler Bell gave us great ab’s.”

The Kentucky offense had one of the best offensive performances in school history on Tuesday night, and it was a balanced effort with many players contributing.