Baserunning, Late SAC Fly Sink No. 24 Kentucky

No. 24 Kentucky struck out looking six times and yielded a late sacrifice fly as it dropped a 5-4 decision to Murray State on Tuesday night at Kentucky Proud Park. It was just the third defeat in the past 27 midweek games for the Wildcats.

The Cats dropped to 14-5 on the season after they could not overcome having four runners erased on the bases. UK had two runners thrown out at home and another two straying too far off second base.

Murray State (13-4), which had taken a ranked Ole Miss to extra innings and given Western Kentucky its only defeat of the season, held a 4-1 advantage after five innings before the Cats drew even in the sixth on Shaun Montoya’s two-out, bases loaded triple.

The Racers scored the decisive run in the eight inning after putting the first two runners on base, moving them over with a bunt and then lifting a SAC fly to centerfield.

UK had potential scoring opportunities erased in both the eighth and ninth innings. After a leadoff double by Patrick Herrera in the eighth, he was moved to third with a groundout but Kyuss Gargett’s fly ball to right field was too shallow to score him on a tag attempt. A leadoff walk in the ninth went for naught when the runner strayed off second and was thrown behind for the tag out.

UK hosts No. 16 Auburn this weekend beginning Friday night.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 14-5 (1-2 SEC) on the season.
• UK has been hit by a pitch 35 times in the last 10 games.
• UK is 24-3 in its past 27 midweek games.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his ninth season at the helm and now owns a 276-171 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • UK is 145-22 vs. non-Power Four opponents under Coach Mingione.
  • UK is 109-41 in the month of March under Coach Mingione.
  • Mingione now is 6-2 vs. Murray State.
• Senior OF Shaun Montoya went 2-for-4 with three RBI, a triple and a SAC bunt.
  • His bases loaded, two-out, three-run triple tied the game in the sixth inning.
  • He has reached safely in 17 consecutive games.
  • He has five multi-hit and three multi-RBI games this season.
• RS Freshman IF Hudson Brown was 1-for-3 with a run, RBI, walk and double.
• Freshman IF Tyler Bell was hit by a pitch to extend his reached safely streak to all 19 games this season.

 ON DECK

Kentucky opens a series with No. 16 Auburn on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET. It will be streamed on SECN+ and radio will be carried by the UK Sports Network.