April 8, 2002
The University of Kentucky baseball team will battle Marshall in a non-conference game at Cliff Hagan Stadium on Tuesday, April 9 at 4 p.m. ET. The Wildcats, owning a 20-9 overall series lead since the schools first met in 1934, enter the contest at 13-17 (3-9 Southeastern Conference) while Marshall travels to the Bluegrass with a record of 10-14 (3-2 Mid-American Conference).
“We’re giving freshman James Rodriquez his second start of the season, and it will be a great opportunity for him to earn some innings,” Coach Keith Madison said. “It will also be a chance for us to get on a positive roll if we can play well against Marshall. Marshall is a team that has the ability to put up a lot of runs, and we’re going to have to pitch smart and play good defense to have success against them.”
The Wildcats prevented a sweep and ended a six-game losing skid to Tennessee by winning Sunday’s series finale, 6-1, at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Sophomore right-hander Cory Hahn pitched the first complete game of his career to pick up his first SEC win of the season. After yielding two base hits to start the game, the hard-throwing right-hander sat down 15 batters in a row before surrendering a bunt base hit in the sixth inning. Striking out six, the Louisville, Ky. native, walked only one of 35 batters faced in his second conference start of the season.
Entering the UT series with an injured throwing arm (right shoulder) and suffering a pulled groin midway through Saturday’s game with the Vols, sophomore infielder/DH Spencer Graeter played with pain to post a remarkable 7-for-11 weekend at the plate. The Louisville, Ky. native, answered a 2-for-4, two-RBI performance on Friday by recording his second four-hit outing of the season when he went 4-for-4 with two doubles, four RBIs and scored a run on Saturday. Graeter ripped his third double of the weekend, was hit by a pitch and scored in UK’s 6-1 win over Tennessee on Sunday, April 7. He currently leads Kentucky in batting average (.337), on-base percentage (.417), doubles (8), and stolen bases (6).
“Yesterday’s win will give us positive momentum going into the Marshall game and hopefully we can use the success we had Sunday and put a winning streak together,” Madison said. “We haven’t had many long streaks this year so we need to get on a roll and win some ball games. Because of Cory Hahn’s complete-game pitching performance and the way Seth Morris and Spencer Graeter have been swinging the bat, I think it gives our team much-needed confidence with Alabama waiting in the wings this weekend.”
Leading the Herd at the plate is senior infielder Matt White. Starting in all 24 games, White enters the week with a .371 batting average and a team-high 33 hits in 89 plate appearances. Senior catcher Ryan Kobe has tallied the highest batting average for Marshall, posting a .408 (20-for-49) in 18 games. Kentucky native Chris Fritz (Ashland, Ky./Boyd County) as been the top starter for Marshall as the freshman right-hander leads the MU staff in wins (3), starts (8), innings pitched (40.0), and strikeouts (28).
UK will send freshman James Rodriquez (0-0, 7.00 ERA) to the mound, while Marshall’s starter is to be announced. Rodriquez has made one start this season, throwing 5.0 innings and yielding four runs on nine hits with a strikeout and a walk against Washington State on Feb. 25.
– UK –
