May 5, 2000
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Friday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium, Louisiana State left-handed starter Brian Tallet scattered seven Kentucky hits over nine shut-out innings while the Southeastern Conference’s top-rated offense pounded out 15 hits in a 9-0 whitewashing of the Wildcats in game one of a three-game weekend series.
The loss lowered the magic number for Ole Miss to clinch the eighth and final spot in the upcoming SEC Tournament to four, but the Cats did not lose ground in the race as the Rebels lost at Georgia on Friday night, 5-2. The loss gave Kentucky (31-17-1, 8-15-1 SEC) its second four-game losing streak of the season. UK has lost 12 of its last 18 games after starting the season with a school-record 15 victories.
Tallet (10-3) tossed his third complete game shutout of the year for the Tigers (36-15, 16-8 SEC), walking just two and striking out six. Despite pitching a career-high 8-2/3 innings, Rob Corrado took the loss for Wildcats as he was touched for nine runs (earned) on 14 hits while walking three and striking out two.
LSU got to Corrado (4-2) with two outs in the second inning as eighth hitter Jeremy Witten hit a two-run homer, his fourth of the season, to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. The damage would have been worse had second baseman Andy Green not squelched a first and second, no out situation by starting a nifty double play. On a sharply hit ball that was skipping toward centerfield, Green stretched out to make a back-handed grab and tossed the ball with his glove to shortstop Jeff Meade who threw on to Robert Newton at first to complete the double play.
The Cats mounted their only real threats against Tallet, the second 10-game winner in the SEC this season, in the first and third innings. On the only two occasions when Tallet allowed a runner to reach third during the entire game, two outs had already been recorded and Aaron McGlone struck out swinging to end the inning. McGlone, UK’s all-time hit leader, has struggled when facing lefties this season, hitting just .242 against southpaws during the 2000 calendar year. McGlone struck out a season-high three times in the game despite entering play with just 14 strikeouts in 189 at-bats this season.
After stopping UK’s mild advances, LSU took control of the rest of the game by adding a single tally in the third, two in the fifth, another solo marker in the seventh and a three-spot in the ninth. Leading the LSU attack were Mike Fontenot who went 2-for-3 with a triple and three runs scored, Brad Cresse with two hits and three runs batted in and Cedric Harris who was 4-for-5.
Meade continued his hot-hitting for the Cats as he went 2-for-4 for his fourth multi-hit game in the last six contests. Third baseman Vince Harrison also had two hits for UK and made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch down the left-field line in foul territory while running with his back to home plate. Green, who went 0-for-3, was held hitless for just the fifth time this season.
The Wildcats will play host to the Tigers for game two of the series tomorrow afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 2:05 p.m. EDT.
