May 11, 2000

LEXINGTON, Kty. – The Wildcats close the regular season this weekend when they travel to Nashville to play Vanderbilt in the final Southeastern Conference series of the 2000 season. The Cats have their backs to the wall in their hunt for a third-consecutive berth in the SEC Tournament they trail Ole Miss and Tennessee by mere percentage points for the eighth and final spot in the tournament as with three SEC games remaining.

While the Cats are taking on Vandy, the team with the worst record in the SEC this season, Ole Miss will be hosting the red-hot Arkansas Razorbacks. After Arkansas ended their school-record 18-game conference losing streak two weeks ago by taking two of three from UK in Fayetteville, the Hogs turned the same trick against No. 1-ranked South Carolina last weekend. Tennessee, the other team currently ahead of the Cats in the conference standings, will be taking on those same Gamecocks in a three-game set in Columbia.

Heading into the weekend, Ole Miss has a magic number of two for clinching the final spot in the tournament. That means that any combination of Rebel wins and Wildcat losses totaling two, mathematically eliminates UK from SEC Tournament contention.

Kentucky (34-18-1, 9-16-1 SEC) heads into the weekend on a high after Robert Newton hit a grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as the Wildcats came back to beat the Ohio Bobcats, 8-5, on Wednesday night in the final game at Cliff Hagan Stadium for the 2000 UK baseball season.

Newton’s first career grand slam came off Ohio reliever Dan Cobb who retired the first two hitters in the ninth, but got into trouble after Andy Green extended the game with a single to left field, giving him his second career four-hit game. Cobb was victimized by a fielding error by OU third baseman Jeff Rook on a hard grounder by Jeff Meade. Aaron McGlone then set the stage for Newton’s heroics by loading the bases with an infield single that deflected off Cobb’s glove. All four runs in the inning were unearned.

Newton’s walk-off homer was his second game-winning long ball of the season and tied him with

Meade for the team-lead with six game-winning runs batted in this season.

Also of note heading into the weekend, UK seniors Green and McGlone are tied for the all-time UK hit lead at 266. Green pulled even with McGlone by out-hitting his left-handed hitting teammate 4-2 on Wednesday night.