March 29, 2000
LEXINGTON, Ky.– The University of Kentucky baseball team extended its winning streak against non-conference foes this season to 19 games with a 15-5 crushing of the Xavier Musketeers, Wednesday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
The Wildcats (22-5, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) pounded out 14 hits as 21 different UK players found their way into the game. Nine different players collected hits, led by shortstop Jeff Meade’s three hits from the No. 9 spot in the batting order. John Wilson’s 11th home run of the season gave UK a 7-3 lead in the fourth inning and moved the catcher into a tie for second place in the SEC home run race.
Xavier (8-17) got on the board first with a single run off surprise UK starter Breck Price. Normally the closer for the Cats, Price was given his first start at UK by Coach Keith Madison and a lead by the UK batters with four runs in the bottom of the first.
Breck has struggled of late so we gave him the start to get some extra warm-up tosses in and build his confidence,” Madison said. “He gave up some runs early, but he really pitched better each inning and was at his best in the (scoreless) third.”
Coming on in relief of Price and earning his third win by pitching three shutout innings was freshman right-hander Mark Michael. Michael (3-0) allowed just two hits while walking none and striking out four as he lowered his team-leading ERA to 1.84. Michael has gone unscored-upon in his last three outings spanning six innings. Coach Madison expects Michael to make his first career SEC start on April 2 against Ole Miss.
UK torched five XU hurlers for the Cats’ second-highest run output of the season, with starter James Seifker (3-4) taking the loss. Seifker lasted just one inning, allowing four runs (three earned). The bulk of the damage was suffered by the Muskies’ first reliever Jeff Barger who allowed six runs (earned) on six hits, including Wilson’s line-drive homer to left, in four innings pitched.
In addition to Meade’s 3-for-5 effort and Wilson’s 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, Vince Harrison and Beau Moore also posted multi-hit games with two safeties a piece. Moore, who pinch-hit for Gordon Tyler in the fifth inning, reached base in all three of his plate appearances, scoring three runs and driving in two more. While hitting safely in eight of the past 10 games, Moore is 11-for-29 (.379).
With a first inning single, senior Andy Green extended his career-best hitting streak to 16 games.
The Cats have won 21 straight non-conference games going back to last season and will have a chance to push the streak to 22 on April 5 when the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles travel to Lexington for a 4 p.m. EST game.
Before UK’s match-up with the Golden Eagles, the Cats will play host to SEC-rival Ole Miss, March 31-April 2, at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
(listen to webcats of all UK baseball games on the University of Kentucky’s official home on the web, www.ukathletics.com)
