LEXINGTON ? Freshman Scott Green struck out the final two batters of the game with the bases loaded to deliver Kentucky a 5-4 victory over No. 25 Tennessee on Saturday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
The win is the first for the Wildcats in Southeastern Conference play as they improve to 16-13 overall and 1-9 in the league. The Volunteers had their four-game win streak snapped to fall to 22-9, 6-4 in the conference. The two will meet in the rubber-match of the series on Sunday at 2 p.m. The game can be heard in Lexington on WLXO 96.1-FM as well as online at www.UKathletics.com
Green entered the game with two on and nobody out in the top of the ninth. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, he intentionally walked Chase Headley to load the bases and set up the double play.
However, it was a double play Green did not need as he fanned J.P. Arencibia, who was 3-for-5 on the day, and Kelly Edmundson to earn the first save of his young career.
?After they bunted over, I knew we were going to need some strikeouts because a ground ball was going to score the runner from third,? Green said. ?I liked the pressure situation. You know you?re only going to have throw one inning, so you can be aggressive and let it fly.?
Kentucky threw six pitchers on the evening and Aaron Tennyson got his first start in conference action. He went three innings and gave up just one run to a Tennessee offense that leads the SEC in hitting.
?Before the game we were going to throw Tennyson three innings max and we had pre-assigned when each pitcher was going to throw,? Kentucky head coach John Cohen said. ?So all those guys were established when they were going to get the ball and it would be a comfort situation for them.?
Freshman Brock Baber, the fourth pitcher of the night for the Wildcats, earned his first career win by working two full innings and allowing just one hit, a two-out double in the eighth. The hit came after a controversial call that was only the beginning of a wild end to the top of the eighth frame.
With Kentucky leading 5-4 and two out, Alex Suarez tapped a pitch just down the first-base line and Baber raced over from the mound and slid to save the ball from rolling foul. He threw Suarez out at first from his seat on the grass to seemingly end the inning.
However, after a brief discussion, the umpires ruled the ball bounced foul in the batters box before dribbling down the line. Suarez laced the double on the next pitch to chase Baber and bring on junior Adam Revelette to face Julio Borbon.
Revelette got struck Borbon out swinging and fired-up Kentucky team began sprinting off the field. However, home-plate umpire AJ Lostaglio said catcher Justin Scutchfield did not catch the third strike cleanly and Borbon ran to first with no attempt to get him out. Alertly, Suarez rounded third and sprinted home for the tying run as the Wildcat players scrambled to find the ball.
Again the umpires held a conference on the field and finally ruled that Scutchfield had held onto the ball and Borbon was out to end the inning and leave the Vols down by one. Tennessee coach Rod Delmonico argued vehemently after the reversal and was ejected from the game.
Tennessee had led 4-3 entering the bottom of the fifth before John Shelby launched a towering home run in the fifth to tie the game. It was his seventh home run in the last 16 games.
An inning later, Ryan Wilkes drew a leadoff walk and went to second when J.B. Schmidt beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt. The hit was one of three for Schmidt, who committed a pair of errors in the game that led to two of the Vols first three runs.
Antone DeJesus moved both with his own sacrifice and Shaun Lehmann brought Wilkes home with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in right. It turned out to be the winning run.
?You have to get timely hits, that?s how it works,? Cohen said. ?Everything in this game is sequential and it went our way today. I?m pleased with the way we battled all day. Our players didn?t get down on themselves, they got fired up and came out and played harder.?
After falling behind 1-0 in the second, Kentucky rallied for two runs as Michael Bertram and Collin Cowgill led off with singles and eventually scored. Billy Grace provided the Wildcats third run on a solo home run that hugged the right-field line.
Notes
Kentucky snaps a 13 game SEC losing streak and beats Tennessee for the first times in six meetings ? J.B. Schmidt recorded his third multi-hit game of the year and tied career highs with three hits and four total bases ? John Shelby and Billy Grace have hit Kentucky?s last six home runs ? Scott Green made just his second career relief appearance after starting the year in the weekend rotation ? Brock Baber earned his first career win to go along with three saves ? Kentucky has committed an error in 15 straight games and has at least two in 13 of those ? Shelby stole his 14th base of the year.
Kentucky 5, Tennessee 4
April 9, 2005
Lexington, Ky.
Tennessee – 010 210 000 – 4 8 1 (22-9, 6-4 SEC)
Kentucky ? 021 011 00X – 5 9 4 (16-13, 1-9 SEC)
Pitchers: Tennessee – Adkins; Andrews(6). Kentucky – A. Tennyson; G. Dombrowsk(4); C. Snipp(4); B. Baber(6); A. Revelette(8); S. Green(9).
Win-B. Baber(1-2) Save-S. Green(1) Loss-Andrews(1-2) T-2:58 A-481
HR UT – Headley (8); Arencibia (7).
HR UK – B. Grace (6); J. Shelby (7).
Game notes:
72 degrees and clear at first pitch, wind from the NNE at 6 mph.
UT coach Rod Delmonico ejected after top of eighth inning.
A. Revelette faced 2 batters in the 9th.
