March 1, 2003
Birmingham, Ala. –
(Birmingham, Ala.) – Junior center fielder Casey Gilvin hit a solo home run with two outs in the top of the 10th inning to break a 2-2 tie and give Kentucky (4-4, 0-0 SEC) a one-run advantage, but Eastern Illinois answered with two runs in the bottom of the10th to defeat the Bat Cats, 4-3. With two outs in the bottom of the tenth, Eastern’s Danny Jordan singled off UK reliever Rob Bland (1-2) to score Bret Pignatiello and tie the game at three. The next hitter, Pete Stone singled to score Kirk Walters and win the game.
Eastern Illinois (1-3, 0-0 OVC) got to UK starter Heath Castle in the bottom of the first, scoring two runs on four singles. Kirk Walters and Aaron Shelbourne had consecutive run-scoring singles for the Panthers in the opening frame. Kentucky got on the board in the top of the fourth when Gordy Tyler led off with a single to left and later came around to score on a groundout from designated hitter Andrew Levenson.
Kentucky tied the game in the eighth inning as Gilvin walked to lead off, moved to second and third on wild pitches and scored on a single from Spencer Graeter. Graeter was thrown out trying to advance to second on the play.
Castle threw four and one-third innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits, while striking out six. The Wildcat bullpen was very impressive, allowing only three hits in four and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball, before the 10th frame. Nathan Stone (1-0) picked up his first win of the season for Eastern Illinois. Gordon Tyler and Russ Rutherford each had two hits for the Cats.
The Bat Cats play their final game in Birmingham on Sunday, March 2, as they take on the host Alabama-Birmingham Blazers (10-0, 0-0 CUSA).
– UK –
