LEXINGTON ? The Kentucky baseball team gave up eight runs in the first four innings and couldn?t quite finish off a rally as it fell to Cincinnati, 10-9, on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Trailing 10-8 heading into the final inning, the Wildcats got the leadoff man aboard in the form of Michael Bertram. Billy Grace drew a one-out walk and Ryan Wilkes singled to load the bases. Pinch hitter Brian Hastings brought Bertram home with a deep fly ball to center to bring up the Wildcats? leading hitter, Antone DeJesus.
After working a full count, DeJesus hit it sharply up the middle only to see pitcher A.J. Upton snare it out of the air and throw to first for the final out.
?We fought our butt off there at the end,? Kentucky coach John Cohen said. ?Our kids aren?t going to quit and they?re going to fight their hearts out. They are going to keep coming after you and keep pressuring you.?
The loss was Kentucky?s first in 11 games at home against a non-conference foe as the team fell to 6-2 on the season. Cincinnati improved to 5-5 after winning its second straight in the series.
The two runners stranded in the ninth were among 10 UK left on base in a game where the team drew 13 walks. Three batters were also hit by a pitch by the seven Bearcat pitchers who saw action.
To add to the men left on, Kentucky also committed a number of base-running errors that contributed to the loss. With runners on the corners and one out in the first, a wild pitch sent Sean Coughlin to second and prompted DeJesus to break for home. Trying to turn back to third, he fell down and was caught in a run down. Coughlin ventured too far off second on the play and was picked for an unconventional 2-5-4-6 double play.
?We had runners on first and third with one out and one of the best hitters in the SEC at the plate and then all of a sudden we had three outs,? Cohen said. ?I?m still kind of wondering how that happened. But it happens early in the year and you have to move on and fix it.?
Ryan Strieby and John Shelby were each thrown out at third base in the third inning. Strieby went down first trying to advance on a wild pitch. Shelby stole second and then was gunned down trying to steal third two pitches later.
The Wildcats used six pitchers on the afternoon. Starter Matt Robinson was chased after giving up four runs on nine hits in the first three innings. Troy Ragle relieved him and did not retire any of the three batters he faced. All three ended up scoring and he took the loss to fall to 0-1.
?We?re really searching for a guy who will step on the mound in the middle of the week for us and control a game,? Cohen said. ?We just didn?t get it done on the mound today.?
Cincinnati?s third pitcher, Sean Munninghoff, picked up the win, his first of the season. He lasted three innings and allowed a single run.
The top half of the order was clicking all game long, pounding out six hits in 16 at bats and walking eight times. However, the bottom half never really got in sync, going 1-for-13 ? the lone hit on Wilkes single.
?We just keep making hard contact but we?re hitting it right at people and they are making remarkable plays defensively,? Cohen said. ?It just keeps happening over and over again so we?re hoping the luck starts going our way.?
Kentucky started in a hole immediately as Cincinnati scored in the first. Ryan Strieby lasered one over the left field fence to lead off the second and draw the game even. The third was a big inning for both teams as the Bearcats used five singles to plate three runs only to have UK push four across.
Justin Scutchfield and Collin Cowgill worked walks around a DeJesus double to load the bases with nobody out. Sean Coughlin and Strieby belted back-to-back two-run doubles to make it 5-4.
Cincinnati answered right away with a four-run fourth. The first three batters reached via two singles and a walk before a groundball out scored one. Mark Muscenti made it 8-5 with a two-run bloop single to right.
Bertram?s RBI double in the fifth made it while Cincinnati?s LaFringe Hayes singled home a run in the seventh for a 9-6 lead. DeJesus and Coughlin each walked and scored in the seventh to cut the deficit to one, 9-8. An RBI single by Muscenti added a much needed insurance run in the eighth that set up the dramatic ninth.
Kentucky returns to action this weekend with a three-game set against Northwestern at Cliff Hagain Stadium. Game one is Friday at 4 p.m.
Notes: Kentucky lost a non-conference home game for the first time in 11 outings ? Dewayne Oxford and Zach Dials each made an appearance and are tied for the team lead with four ? Collin Cowgill extended his hitting streak to eight, but had his RBI streak halted at six ? With an eighth-inning double, Cowgill has an extra base hit in five straight games ? Antone DeJesus has a hit in his last 14 games, dating back to last season ? Ryan Strieby has six RBIs in his last two games ? Strieby hit his first career home run ? The six pitchers used by Kentucky was second time that happened ? The crowd of 1153 was the largest for Kentucky at home in the John Cohen era.
