Wade fires first shutout of collegiate career
OXFORD, Miss. – Scott Wade threw his first collegiate shutout, striking out six while allowing only three hits and no runner to advance past second base, as the University of Kentucky baseball team defeated the Ole Miss Rebels, 6-0, on Friday night in the Southeastern Conference opener at Oxford-University Stadium in Oxford, Miss.
The shutout was Wade’s second consecutive of the season, fourth of his career, and stretched UK’s winning streak to five games. At one stretch in the game, Wade retired 16 of 17 Rebel batters en route to having five 1-2-3 innings.
“Tonight, I wanted to come out and set the tone early. It was really important for our team to get off to a good start in conference play,” said Wade, a sophomore from Kinsport, Tenn. “Hopefully we can keep the momentum from this win through the rest of the series.”
UK (7-7, 1-0 SEC) got on the board with one run in the fourth inning. With one out, Vince Harrison singled to right-center and was awarded second base after a balk was called on Ole Miss starting pitcher Pete Montrenes. Facing an 0-2 count, Seth Morris doubled down the left field line, scoring Harrison and putting the Cats up 1-0.
Kentucky put the game out of reach in the sixth inning, aided by a slew of Rebel miscues. Beau Moore started the UK rally with a single and advanced to second on an error. After Harrison reached on a fielder’s choice, Morris reached base on an infield hit, loading the bases for UK clean-up batter Spencer Preston. Preston skied a pop up behind third base that was misplayed by the Ole Miss shortstop, scoring Moore and putting UK up by a 2-0 margin. With the bases still loaded, Jeff Tolotti drew a walk, adding another Wildcat run. Gordon Tyler followed with an RBI groundout, giving the Cats a 4-0 lead with runners on second and third and Caleb Brock coming to the plate. Brock singled to center field, scoring both runners and giving UK a 6-0 lead, more than enough runs for Wade.
The UK defense was solid, not committing an error for the third consecutive game and providing some highlight reel catches, most notably by right fielder Seth Morris.
“Scott was pitching a great game and we wanted to do our part to put a solid defense behind him,” said Morris. “I thought offensively we got some big hits at crucial times. This win was important for us because it gets us off to a good start in conference play.”
The Wildcats outhit the Rebels nine to three. Morris and Brock led the UK attack with two hits each. Moore, Harrison, Preston, Tolotti and Tyler each added one hit each for the Big Blue.
With the victory, Wade improved to 2-2 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.06.
Rebel starter Pete Montrenes, who was tied for the conference lead with four victories going into Friday’s game, was saddled with his first loss of the season. With the loss, Ole Miss (13-4, 0-1) saw its four-game win streak come to an end.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. Joseph Blanton (0-1, 3.38 ERA ) is the scheduled starter for UK. Blanton will be opposed by Rebel left-hander Mike Gray (1-0, 2.25).
Agate R H EKentucky 000 105 000 6 9 0Ole Miss 000 000 000 0 3 2
