March 31, 2000
LEXINGTON, Ky. — With their usual flair for the dramatics, the University of Kentucky baseball team beat the Ole Miss Rebels, 6-5, in 11 innings in the opening game of their Southeastern Conference series at Cliff Hagan Stadium on Friday night.
The man of the hour for the Wildcats on this night was Vince Harrison who drove in the game-winning run with a single to right field off Ole Miss reliever and losing pitcher Ronnie Goodwin (0-2). The bases were loaded for the UK third baseman as Aaron McGlone reached on an error by the shortstop, followed by a double off the center field wall by catcher John Wilson and an intentional walk to Robert Newton.
The Wildcats (23-5, 4-5 SEC) have now gone into extra innings in four of their nine conference games. Of those nine SEC games, seven have been decided by a single run while an eighth was lost on a three-run home run in the opponent’s last at-bat. Friday’s win gives the Cats a 3-2 record in games decided in the last at-bat, all of which have come in SEC play.
The game began as a pitcher’s dual as starters Brandon Webb of Kentucky and Jeff McAvoy of Ole Miss (16-12, 4-5 SEC) matched each other pitch-for-pitch through five innings. Webb struck out seven while walking none and allowing two hits during that time as he faced the minimum for 4-2/3 innings after giving up right fielder Burney Hutchinson’s first of two home runs on the day in the first. Hutchinson’s second homer tied the game at 5-5 in the eighth. McAvoy also allowed just two hits through five innings, but his fine start come crashing down with Newton’s towering three-run shot in the sixth.
Webb was helped along by Wilson who threw out all three would-be Rebel base stealers who ran against him. Wilson is now 11-of-14 (79%) at throwing out base runners this season.
After Webb became unraveled by round-trippers in the eighth by Justin Heisman and Hutchinson, reliever Breck Price recorded the final out of the inning while stranding an inherited runner. After gaining an out in the ninth, Price then gave way to Jon Hooker who tossed the final 2-2/3 innings of the game to earn his second win of the year. Hooker (2-1) worked around four hits while striking out two in his eighth scoreless outing of the season.
With a sixth-inning single, Andy Green extended his career-best hitting streak to 17 games. Green’s hit also moved the senior second baseman into a tied for second on the all-time UK hit list with 232. McGlone, who scored two runs in the game including the game-winner, is currently in third with 231 career hits.
The Wildcats will be looking to even their SEC record when they play host to game two of the series against Ole Miss Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. EST. First pitch at Hagan Stadium is scheduled for 2:05 with freshman right-hander Scott Wade (5-1, 2.66 ERA) pitching for the Cats. He will be opposed by fellow frosh, righty Brett Young (1-0, 5.88) of Ole Miss.
Wildcats on the air
Saturday afternoon will mark the return of UK baseball to the local air waves as WSAI AM 1580 kicks-off its broadcast schedule with game two of the UK-Ole Miss series tomorrow afternoon at 1:55 p.m. Calling the game action will be Dick Gabriel of WKYT and Patrick Mahan who has been giving the play-by-play on the UK webcasts thus far this season. All UK games will continue to be webcast on the UK athletics website, www.ukathletics.com.
