April 22, 1998
LEXINGTON, Ky.- Kentucky sophomore Andy Green had three hits, including his first home run of the season, as the Wildcats held off a late power surge by Eastern Kentucky to win 8-7 Wednesday at Cliff Hagan Stadium on the UK campus. UK has won seven of its last nine games, including a season-high four straight. UK (19-24) took a 7-4 lead into the eighth inning before EKU (19-22-1) hit back-to-back homers off reliever Josh Paxton, who had only given up one run in his previous 20 innings pitched. The Colonels Jeff Wellman added a solo homer in the ninth off David Cheatle, who picked up his team-leading third save of the season. Left-hander Tim Rowland (2-1) picked up the win after allowing six hits and four runs, two earned, in five innings of work. Freshman Jon Hooker allowed two hits in two scoreless innings of middle relief.
UK got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning on a RBI double by Jason Colemire. Colemire moved into 10th place on the schoolis record charts for doubles in a season with 18. EKU tied the game in the second with a RBI double by Matt Mason.
Green hit a two-run homer over the left field fence to give UK the lead back, 3-1. UKis Aaron McGlone, who extended his hitting streak to eight games, led off the third with his 15th double of the season and eventually scored on a Colemire groundout. Freshman John Wilson led off the fourth inning for the Wildcats with a double and scored on a Green single, extending the UK lead to 5-1. EKU answered with three runs in the fifth highlighted by a two-run double by Adam Basil. Wilson drew a leadoff walk in the in the sixth and stole second, setting up a two-run by pinch-hitter Justin Bunch to increase the lead to 7-4. Bunch, who has homered in four of the last six games, extended his hitting streak to seven games. As a team, the Wildcats have homered in nine straight games.
Cheatle and Andy Bendix had two hits apiece for the Wildcats. UK junior Josh Loggins extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fifth inning. EKU had four players with two hits. Eric Bess (6-4) took the loss after allowing seven hits and five runs in three innings of work. UK returns to SEC play this weekend at home against Arkansas. The first game of the series is set for Friday at 6 p.m. The second game of the series on Saturday has been moved to a 5 p.m. start to accommodate the spring football game.
