March 31, 2002
The University of Kentucky baseball team fell 12-2 to No. 15 Ole Miss in overcast, chilly conditions at Cliff Hagan Stadium on Easter Sunday, March 31. The UK loss gave the Rebels (21-7, 5-4) the three-game Southeastern Conference sweep over the Wildcats (11-15, 2-7), the first since UM took all three in Oxford from March 19-21, 1999.
The Rebels got to Kentucky starter Cory Hahn early, putting one across in the first inning when Burney Hutchinson doubled down the left field line and advanced to third on a balk by the sophomore right-hander. Hutchinson, the hero for Ole Miss yesterday with a three-run homer in UM’s 5-4 victory, came home on a RBI grounder to second by Seth Smith.
Hutchinson added to the Rebels’ lead in the third when the All-America outfielder blasted his seventh home run of the season over the right field wall, giving Ole Miss a 2-0 edge.
The Wildcats got things going in the their half of third when Russ Rutherford ripped a leadoff single to left and David Waespe, earning his first career start, bunted directly in front of UM pitcher Alan Horne and reached first when the UM starter slipped on the damp grass. Brad Pickrell advanced the runners on a sacrifice bunt and Caleb Stewart lit the scoreboard for UK on a RBI single to right center. Robert Newton continued the Cats rally when he lined a game-tying single to right, allowing Waespe to score from third.
Locked at two runs apiece, the Rebels went to work on Hahn in the fifth when Drew Rogers lead off with a double and scored on a RBI single to right by Charlie Waite to break the tie. Clint Farrar put down the Rebs’ second bunt single of the inning to load the bases for Hutchinson with no outs. Hahn caught the All-SEC outfielder looking on three strikes but an error by Waespe allowed Matt Tolbert to score. Working himself out of the jam, Hahn forced Seth Smith into a ground ball double play to short to end the inning.
Rogers increased the Ole Miss lead to 5-2 in the sixth when he cranked a Hahn fastball over the left field wall. The hit was the ninth in as many plate appearances for the Austin, Texas native, setting an Ole Miss record for consecutive hits. For the series, Rogers posted an impressive .833 average on 10-for-12 hitting.
Kentucky put the tying runs on in their half of sixth when Gordon Tyler walked and Emory Davies singled to right with two down in the inning. The Cats could not push runners in as freshman Mike Ferris pinched hit for Russ Rutherford and struck out looking on strike three to squelch the Cats’ scoring opportunity.
Ole Miss tacked on two more in the top of seventh as Bryan Felkel relieved Hahn after 6.1 innings. The senior lefty lasted three batters before he was lifted for Rob Corrado. The junior right-hander could not quell the Rebels’ offensive prowess and was pulled after giving up three more runs to give UM a 10-2 lead. Sophomore Mark Galvin made his 11th appearance of the season in relief duties and got the Cats out of trouble by forcing Josh Christian to ground to short. Ole Miss touched home plate four times on three hits in the inning to put the game out of reach and send the Cats to their seventh loss in eight games.
The Wildcats will play their first intrastate battle this week when they play host to Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday, April 3 at Cliff Hagan Stadium with a 3 p.m. start time before continuing SEC play at Tennessee next weekend.
Ole Miss101021241 - 12 14 0Kentucky002000000 - 2 9 3Win: Horne (1-1)Loss: Hahn (2-4)Time: 3:11Attendance: 275
– UK –
