Saturday, Kentucky faced a team that scored 13 runs the night before and had tallied nine or more runs 17 times. The opponent was the defending national champions and sixth-ranked Vanderbilt. 

For UK’s junior righthander Dustin Beggs though, who recorded his four consecutive win, it was business as usual.

Beggs went 8.1 innings and allowed just three runs. It was all the Wildcats needed as the offense exploded for 11 runs in an 11-5 win to even the three-game series at 1-1.

“I felt really good,” Beggs said after the game. “[Head coach Gary] Henderson and I have been working in the bullpen, getting everything going in the right spot. Mesh everything together, get fastballs and curveballs working together. I think it’s been working out well.”

Saturday was Beggs’ fourth win in as many starts, going at least eight innings in each appearance. He earned his team-high eighth quality start of the season as UK improved to 8-4 on the year with Beggs on the mound.

Last week’s win came at No. 5 Florida with a career-high 8.1 innings pitched. The 8.1 frames Saturday vs. the sixth-ranked Commodores matched that.

With a career-best 12 strikeouts Saturday and having reached the ninth inning in back-to-back weeks, Beggs has continued to get better week after week.

“We certainly have high standards for him, but he’s gotten better as the season has progressed,” Henderson said. “He’s gotten more stamina, he has the ability to concentrate longer. His concentration now, compared to where it was in February is in a noticeably different spot.”

Beggs has recorded six or more strikeouts in four consecutive games and in six starts total in 2015. Saturday’s 12 was the first time in his career that he sat down more than eight opposing batters.

The curveball was Beggs’ go-to pitch on Saturday. 

“I was able to switch sides well, and my curveball was working really well. I was getting a lot of swing-and-misses on that, before there were two strikes, so it worked well.”

Following a 13-run outburst from Vanderbilt in Friday’s series-opener, including back-to-back five run innings, Henderson was especially impressed with how Beggs handled a rocky first inning on Saturday.

The Commodores sent eight batters to the plate and they had three hits. VU loaded the bases with two outs, but a flyout to center ended the threat with just one run across.

Beggs had his first two strikeouts in the opening frame, and after allowing the three hits, he settled down to give up just four the rest of the night.

“What Dustin did in the first inning, it wasn’t very clean,” Henderson said. “It had the chance to be a mess but he got out of it. He found his rhythm and really found his command after that, I thought that was as impressive as anything we’d seen in a while.

“Early on, they were clearly sitting on the outer half [of the plate] on the fastball. So we got him off the fastball a little bit, and he did a much better job of mixing the sides of the fastball. It was much better than we did last night.”

Tomorrow, the Wildcats go for their fourth Southeastern Conference series win against a top-20 opponent in six chances. On the mound, Beggs has played a significant role in UK’s success against ranked foes.

The senior has three wins over ranked opponents and a no decision in another two.

Along with an 8.1-inning, 3-run showing last week to clinch the series at No. 5 Florida, Beggs earned a win vs. No. 20 Mississippi State when he allowed three runs in 6.0 innings on March 21.

At No. 1 LSU on March 28, Beggs gave up just two runs, one of them earned. 

It’s performances like that that helps give his teammates confidence against ranked opponents.

“I think we really get a boost of confidence when we come in,” Beggs said. “We think we have the team that’s capable of doing it. We just go out and play our game and don’t let anything affect us, and we’ve been doing well with that.”

If Beggs keeps on pitching the way he did Saturday night, he and the Wildcats will have a few more big wins under their belt before his senior season comes to a close.