No. 18 Kentucky Travels to Plains For Showdown with No. 11 Auburn
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After an impressive all-around performance against the No. 8 LSU Tigers over the weekend in which the Wildcats swept a two-game series, outscoring LSU 6-1 and coming within five outs of a three-game sweep – Kentucky will turn the page to No. 11 Auburn in a three-game conference series this weekend.
Games one and three will be shown live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the ESPN app with Saturday night’s game airing live on the SEC Network with Cara Capuano (pxp) and former All-American Cheri Kempf (color) on the call from The Plains.
Friday night’s game will be at 7 p.m. ET on the SEC Network+. The nationally-televised game on Saturday night will be at 9 p.m. ET on the SEC Network before a 3 p.m. ET finale on Sunday to close out the series.
The Kentucky bats were scorching last week, striking for a season-high 15 runs in a midweek over Big 10 foe Indiana before a 4-1 win over LSU in which the Wildcats hit two home runs off of All-American Carley Hoover. In Sunday’s 2-0 win, Brooklin Hinz had two two-out RBI singles off of Allie Walljasper to lift UK to a shutout win over the No. 8 Tigers.
After a 4-0 week in official games that were played this week, junior third baseman Abbey Cheek and freshman pitcher Grace Baalman were awarded Southeastern Conference weekly awards by the league office on Tuesday.
Cheek was named the SEC Player of the Week, hitting over .700 in the four countable games with five runs scored and six RBI. She had three multi-hit games, including three in a row against three different teams to start the week.
Baalman went the distance, allowing just two runs for her eighth win of the season. She then won her first SEC game by throwing a complete game against No. 8 LSU in Kentucky’s 4-1 win over the Tigers in the first game of the sweep. Baalman did not walk a single batter against LSU on Saturday.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Mickey Dean, Auburn is out to another fast start at 27-6 on the year and 2-4 in the SEC. After getting swept in the opening weekend of conference play at No. 8 LSU, AU responded last weekend by taking two of three at home from the Alabama Crimson Tide at Jane B. Moore Field in Auburn. The Tigers are one of the best pitching and defensive teams in the nation with a staff ERA of just 0.85 led by Kaylee Carlson, who is 13-1 with an 0.70 ERA.
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