UK Baseball: Week 13 In Review

2018 KENTUCKY BASEBALL WEEK 13 IN REVIEW

 
OVERALL RECORD: 33-18 (13-14 SEC)
WEEK RECORD: 3-1
RPI: 17
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: 18
 
LAST WEEK
May 8 – Win, 7-6, at No. 19 Indiana
May 11 – Win, 9-6, vs. Mississippi State
May 12 – Win, 4-1, vs. Mississippi State
May 13 – Loss, 8-18, vs. Mississippi State
 
THIS WEEK
May 15 – vs. Murray State (7 p.m.; Paducah, Ky.)
May 17 – at Vanderbilt (7:30 p.m.; Nashville; SECN+)
May 18 – at Vanderbilt (7:30 p.m.; Nashville; SECN+)
May 19 – at Vanderbilt (2 p.m.; Nashville; SECN+)
 
TEAM NOTES
NOTES

• Kentucky has scored in 59 consecutive games and 135 of the past 136 dating to the 2016 season. The lone shutout came in a seven-inning game.
• Kentucky has won three series teams ranked in the current RPI top 12 – and in RPI top 10 at the time they played.
• With a win at No. 19 Indiana the Cats have 11 wins vs. ranked teams this season, including five on the road.
• The Wildcats have six wins this season when trailing after seven innings.
• The Cats are 5-2 in games decided in the last at bat.
• The Cats recorded a “biggie” inning in each of the three games of the series and now have 28 this season. A “biggie” inning is one of at least four runs.
• The Cats scored 28 runs on 44 hits in four games this week.

• Several Cats extended impressive reached base safely streaks …
  • Junior C/1B Kole Cottam has reached safely in 14 straight games, has hits in 25 of the past 27 games and is riding a career-long 14-game hit streak.
  • Junior INF Trey Dawson has now reached base safely in 12 straight and 21 of his last 22 games.
  • Senior INF/OF Luke Heyer has reached in 14 straight games and 19 of the last 20 games.
  • Senior INF Luke Becker has reached in 49 of 51 games (and 93 of 95 including 2017 summer ball).

 
 
SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK CANDIDATE
Senior INF/OF Luke Heyer

• Hit .500 with four doubles, a home run, four runs, five RBI, three walks, a steal and an OPS of 1.588 for the week.
• Had extra-base hits in three of four games for the week.
• Heyer has 21 multi-hit game of the season and a team-high 14 multi-RBI games.
• Heyer now has 16 doubles and 17 home runs on the season.
• He is slugging .707 with an OPS of 1.150 on the year.
• At No. 19 Indiana, gave the Cats a lead in the first inning it would never relinquish with an RBI double over the CF head. He later hit a two-run home run when the Hoosiers sliced the deficit to one.
• In Saturday’s 4-1 win over Miss. State his SAC bunt provided the final two runs of the Cats’ four-run eighth inning rally. His hustle forced an errant throw by the Miss. State pitcher that allowed two runs to score.
• Crushed two more doubles in Sunday’s series finale vs. Miss. State.

 
 
 
PLAYER NOTES

• Senior C/1B Troy Squires

  • He has been hit by 29 pitches in his career, which moved him into ninth on the school’s all-time list.

• Junior C/1B Kole Cottam

  • Currently owns a career-long 14-game hit streak and has hits in 25 of the past 27 games.
  • Has 26 extra-base hits (10 doubles, 16 home runs) and 45 RBI.
  • Is slugging .638 with an OPS of 1.070.
  • Cottam has homered at least once in seven of the nine SEC weekend series and 11 of 13 weekend series overall.

• Senior INF Luke Becker

  • He has 17 multi-hit games this season and 44 for his career.
  • He had multi-hit games all three games of the Mississippi State series.
  • Had the game-winning hit in Saturday’s come from behind 4-1 win over State.

• Junior OF Tristan Pompey

  • Hit .467 with three doubles, a home run, five runs, five RBI and three walks for the week.
  • Reached base all five times with four RBI in Friday’s win over Miss. State.
  • His ninth inning HR at No. 19 Indiana provided and insurance run the Cats would need.
  • Now has 52 career multi-hit games.

• Junior INF Trey Dawson

  • On Sunday, homered for the third time this season.
  • He is now hitting .321 in SEC play with 22 runs scored in SEC play.

• Junior OF Ben Aklinski

  • Hit .522 with two doubles and two RBI for the week.
  • He had hits in his first three at bats on Friday, giving him six straight dating to the Indiana game earlier in the week.

• Redshirt Freshman Brayden Combs

  • Homered on Sunday vs. Miss. State. The homer run was his first career hit and just his sixth at bat.
  • He is the first UK player to homer for his first career hit since T.J. Collett hit a grand slam against Ole Miss on March 23, 2017.

• Sophomore RHP Chris Machamer

  • Earned two saves for the week, both of 2.0 innings.
  • Has 10 saves on the season, which places him third on UK’s single-season list, two behind Trevor Gott (2013) and Logan Salow (2017).
  • His 11 career saves tie him with three others for sixth on UK’s career list.

• Junior RHP Sean Hjelle

  • Earned his seventh win of the season on Friday vs. Miss. State
  • Hjelle now has 22 career wins, ranking him fifth on UK’s list.

• Sophomore LHP Zack Thompson

  • Made his second start since returning from a seven-week absence.
  • Thompson pitched 4.0 innings, giving up two hits, one run and striking out three vs. Miss. State.
  • In two starts since his return he has gone 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 5 BB and 10 K.

• Freshman LHP Mason Hazelwood

  • On Saturday vs. Miss. State, pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up just one hit, one walk and striking out three.
  • It was a career-long outing and his 45 pitches are a career-high.