May 17, 1999
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Wildcats’ baseball team (25-30, 13-17 SEC) clinched a berth to the SEC Tournament in Birmingham, Ala., on May 19-23, but lost two out of three games to the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge. Friday night’s game featured aggressive pitching by UK starter Nathan Kent (5-6), as the junior pitched eight solid innings with nine strikeouts, but the offense never showed up as the Wildcats lost the opening game of the series, 7-2.
Kentucky’s bats returned to the lineup on Saturday as the Wildcats mounted an offensive attack, shelling 16 hits against five LSU pitchers and defeating the Tigers, 13-8. Breck Price belted his eleventh home run of the season in the third inning to score Kentucky’s opening run, and the flood gates were opened as the Wildcats scored three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a 6-5 lead. Reliever Josh Paxton (6-2) pitched five innings, giving up three earned runs while striking out three batters and working his way out of trouble to earn the Kentucky win.
The final conference game of the regular season occurred on Sunday, May 16, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge and began with the temperature at 91 degrees with a heat index of 97. Despite the uncomfortable conditions, the Wildcats battled the heat and powerful starting pitching, but lost to the Fighting Tigers, 6-4. Price hit his second home run of the series in the third inning, a solo shot over the left-center field wall. Vince Harrison hit a long fly ball to right field in the top of the ninth inning that appeared to tie the game, but LSU right fielder positioned himself appropriately and ended the Wildcat rally.
Despite losing two out of three games to end the season, Kentucky qualified for the SEC Tournament thanks to a three game sweep by the Alabama Crimson Tide over the Florida Gators. UK finished the season tied for second place in the SEC East with the Gators, but the Wildcats defeated Florida in two out of three games earlier this season in Gainesville to win the tiebreaker.
Kentucky enters the tournament as a No. 8 seed and will face SEC Western Division Champion and No. 1 seed Arkansas on Wednesday, May 19, at 8:30 p.m. ET. The games will be broadcast on 1300 AM WLXG by Alan Cutler and will begin approximately 30 minutes before the first pitch. If the Wildcats win on Wednesday, they will face the Auburn-LSU winner at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 20. In the event of a loss to Arkansas, Kentucky will face the Auburn-LSU loser at 1:30 p.m. .on Thursday.
