Pompey Continues to Ignite UK Baseball Offense
Kentucky baseball head coach Nick Mingione likes to call Tristan Pompey the table setter for his team’s offense. In Mingione’s mind, if Pompey gets going, good things are in store for the Wildcats.
That theory held true again on Sunday, as Pompey went 3-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored and two runs batted in as Kentucky topped South Carolina 10-5 to claim the SEC weekend series.
Kentucky is now 15-4 this season when Pompey records at least one hit. Conversely, the Wildcats are 2-6 this season in games when Pompey has played and not gotten a base hit (Pompey missed four games due to injury earlier this season).
“I give him a lot of credit, he made an adjustment to his left-handed swing,” Mingione said following Sunday’s win. “There was a lot of frustrated people with his swing, but he figured it out. That guy gets pitched as tough as anybody on our team, and maybe in the league, and for him to come in this week and just figure it out was really big for our team. As you know, he’s our table setter. Both games we won, on Friday and Sunday, he led it off with a hit. When he can do that, we can get going.”
Pompey got things started early in Sunday’s game. Leading off the bottom of the first, Pompey hit a 2-2 pitch from South Carolina starter Ridge Chapman over the wall in right-center field to give Kentucky a 1-0 lead. After grounding out in the third inning, Pompey singled up the middle in the fourth inning, driving in Alex Rodriguez to give the Cats a 4-2 lead.
The junior from Toronto singled up the middle again in the sixth inning, giving him three hits for the second time in the series. It was Pompey’s ninth game this season with multiple hits, and the 43rd such game in his UK career. Sunday also marked the fourth time this season that Pompey has recorded at least three hits in a game.
“I just try to get on, that’s basically my job,” Pompey said. “It helps when I’m the leadoff guy because when I’m up, there’s no one out, so it makes everything move along better.”
Pompey is now hitting .358 this season, a figure that should put him in the Top 10 in the SEC when the statistics are released on Monday. He has 165 hits in a Kentucky uniform, which is 25th in program history.
For the Wildcats to reach their goals, and to keep the offense rolling, Pompey is the key. If he is able to get on base, the Kentucky offense becomes much more dangerous, as evidenced again on Sunday.
