LEXINGTON ? Vanderbilt junior Jensen Lewis gave up two hits while striking out 13 as he carried Vanderbilt to an 8-0 victory over Kentucky on Friday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
The loss dropped the Wildcats to 26-23 overall, including 6-18 in the Southeastern Conference. It was the 11th straight for Kentucky on Friday night in conference play and prevented the team from winning its third straight game. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt improved to 31-17 and 12-13 in the league. The Commodores also improved their standing in the SEC standings as the team battles for one of the final SEC Tournament positions.
The series resumes on Saturday at 2 p.m. when Kentucky junior left-hander Aaron Tennyson (6-1, 4.02) takes the hill against fellow junior southpaw Ryan Mullins (5-1, 3.49). The Wildcats are 5-0 in SEC play when Tennyson starts. The game can be heard in the Lexington area on WLXO 96.1-FM as well as online at www.UKathletics.com. There are a number of fan giveaways scheduled, including two floor seats to the Kentucky men?s basketball game against North Carolina in the 2005-06 season.
Friday night, Lewis was the story from the beginning as he shut down the SEC?s fourth most prolific offense in Kentucky. The Wildcats had scored 22 runs in their last two games before Friday. The Wildcats did not register a hit until the fifth inning when J.P. Lowen singled to left field.
Kentucky did manage to put runners on base via walks and hit batsmen, but stranded all seven men it got on. John Shelby had the Wildcats only other hit when he laced a single to center in the seventh. Lewis improved to 8-2 overall and walked three to his career-high 13 strikeouts.
While Kentucky could not find its stroke at the plate, Vanderbilt came alive in the third and fourth innings to tag Wildcat starter Kalen Gibson for seven runs. With one out in the third, Alex Feinberg walked and Antoan Richardson was hit by pitch to set up Mike Baxter?s two-run double. Brian Hernandez followed with a single to make it 3-0.
Three straight singles greeted Gibson in the fourth to plate one run and were followed by a sacrifice bunt. The Commodores then connected for four straight singles ? three of which drove runs in ? to extend the lead to 7-0.
Gibson was relieved after the fourth and took the loss to drop to 4-3. He gave up seven run on 12 hits while walking one and fanning three.
Freshman Alex Jordan came on in the fifth and had his best performance in a Kentucky uniform. He held Vanderbilt to one run on four hits over the final five innings while striking out three. He did not walk a batter.
