LEXINGTON ? Kentucky pounded out 10 runs in the first three innings and coasted to a 15-6 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
The win improves the Wildcats to 25-22 on the year as the team reached its highest win total since the 2000 season. Kentucky has nine games left to reach the 30-win plateau for just the second time since 1997. The Colonels, which recently had a 10-game win streak snapped, fell to 20-24.
Eastern Kentucky leadoff man Derrick Bussell wasted no time giving his team the lead as he launched the fourth pitch of the game over the wall in center field for a 1-0 lead.
However, the lead was short lived as Shaun Lehmann and John Shelby belted back-to-back two-out doubles before Michael Bertram singled for a 2-1 lead after one inning. Kentucky was just getting started.
In the second, Billy Grace reached on a leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second. Ryan Wilkes followed with an RBI triple that missed being a home run by inches. J.B. Schmidt drove in Wilkes with a single. After a pair of walks loaded the bases, Shelby emptied them with his second double of the game to cap the five-run inning.
Walks came back to haunt the Colonels again in the third as Justin Scutchfield and Wilkes were both given free passes. Antone DeJesus scored them both with a towering home run over the scoreboard in right field. It was his second homer of the year.
Eastern Kentucky kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard for the next two innings while the Colonels posted a single run in the fifth to slice the lead to 10-2.
Kentucky answered with a run in the sixth off three consecutive hits capped by a Shelby RBI single, which gave him a career-high tying five RBIs in the contest.
In the seventh, the Wildcats pushed the lead to 15-2 with four runs. Matt Fritts led off with his first career home run and Collin Cowgill followed with a walk. Back-to-back singles by Scutchfield and Wilkes loaded the bases and a wild pitch score the second run of the inning. Schmidt?s ground out drove in one and Steve Deaton laced an RBI single to left to cap the scoring for Kentucky.
With the game well out of reach, Eastern Kentucky posted four runs over the last two innings for the final margin.
Greg Dombrowski earned his first career win by pitching five innings of relief and allowing just one run on five hits while fanning four. He came in for Alex Jordan, who went the first two frames and gave up a pair of hits, including the leadoff home run. Tommy Warner closed the game out with four strikeouts in the final two innings.
The Wildcats return to action Wednesday when they host Tuscumbia at 6:30 p.m. at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The game was added Tuesday to offset games cancelled earlier in the year due to inclement weather.
