April 9, 2002
Eight pitchers took the mound and a season-high 24 players saw action as the University of Kentucky baseball team defeated Marshall, 14-4, in a non-conference game at Cliff Hagan Stadium Tuesday afternoon. The Wildcats increased their series lead over the Thundering Herd to 21-9 and improved their record to 14-17 (3-9 Southeastern Conference). Marshall dropped to 10-15 (3-2 Mid-American Conference) on the season.
“We’ve been rained out of some mid-week games and it was nice to be able to get some of our younger pitchers the in-game experience they need to develop,” Coach Keith Madison said. “This win is a confidence builder, you can’t help but feel better when you don’t commit any errors, hit the ball well and are able to get your pitchers some valuable work. I think it was a real good win for us and it was one that we needed before the weekend series with No. 3 Alabama.”
The Herd got to UK starter James Rodriquez quickly, putting two runs across in the first with doubles by Matt White and Craig Pziedziejko. Clay DeSantis followed up with a RBI single to left to give Marshall a 2-0 early lead. UK answered in the bottom the first, knocking MU starter Grant Harper out of the game after one third of an inning. Grant surrendered a leadoff walk to Brad Pickrell and Caleb Stewart sent him to third on a single to left-center. Spencer Graeter was then awarded first on base-on-balls and Pickrell crossed home on a single off the left field wall by Robert Newton. Seth Morris’ grounder to short allowed Stewart to score and a sacrifice fly by Mike Ferris gave Kentucky an early 3-2 advantage.
The Cats tacked on two more runs in the second when Emory Davies scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Prickrell and Stewart singled up the middle to score Jesse Barber who reached on a double down the left field line. In the fourth, Davies cracked his first career home run as he sent a solo blast over the 390-mark to center to open the gap to a four-run Kentucky lead.
The Wildcats increased their lead to 8-3 in the sixth when Pickrell doubled home Rutherford and Tyler ripped a RBI single up the middle. With the double, Pickrell extended his SEC-leading hit streak to 13 games. UK batted around in the sixth, highlighted by Seth Morris’ base-clearing triple with the bases loaded. Davies continued the Cats’ rally with a two-RBI single up the middle to score Rutherford and Ferris. The eight-run, four-hit inning was what the Cats needed to lasso the Herd and even their home record to 8-8 on the season.
Freshman southpaw Craig Snipp earned the win to go 3-1 while sophomore right-hander Grant Harper took the loss to go 2-3. Snipp, Mark Galvin, Jarrod Reynolds, Adam Kunkel, Jeff Archer, Bryan Felkel and Rob Corrodo all made relief appearances in the win. At the plate, Stewart, Tyler and Davies posted two-hit performances. Morris finished with a game-high four RBIs and Davies drove in a career-high three runs.
“These two wins in a row for us are huge as we are able to build some momentum going into the Alabama series this weekend,” Morris said. “We came out swinging well today and we got some great performances from our pitchers. This victory is a big momentum booster for us.”
The Bat Cats will play host to No. 3 Alabama this weekend in a three-game SEC series at Cliff Hagan Stadium. Friday night’s 6 p.m. ET opener will feature two of the top collegiate pitchers in the country when UK’s junior right-hander Joseph Blanton (3-4, 3.32, 80 K) will challenge UA’s senior All-America right-hander Lance Cormier (8-0, 1.36, 55 K).
Marshall200 010 100 - 4 8 1Kentucky320 108 00x - 14 11 0Win: Snipp (3-1)Loss: Harper (2-3)Time: 3:03Attendance: 207
– UK –
