Kentucky ? 6-2, 0-0 SEC
Northwestern ? 3-5, 0-0 Big Ten
Games at Lexington, Ky. (times Eastern)
Cliff Hagan Stadium ? 3,000
Friday, March 3 at 4 p.m.
Saturday, March 4 at 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 5 at 1 p.m.
Projected Pitching Match-Ups
Friday
LHP Craig Snipp, Sr. (2-0, 0.60) vs. RHP Randy Myers, Jr. (0-0, 6.55)
Saturday
LHP Aaron Tennyson (1-1, 3.14) vs. LHP Dan Brauer, Jr. (0-0, 2.12)
Sunday
RHP Greg Dombrowski, So. (2-0, 1.93) vs. RHP George Kontos, Jr. (0-2, 6.19)
Projected UK Line-Up
C (L) Sean Coughlin (.375-2-7, .708 Slug.)
-or- (R) Justin Scutchfield (.286-0-3, 2 2B)
1B (R) Ryan Strieby (.310-1-9, .500 OBP)
2B (R) John Shelby (.208-0-2, 2 2B)
-or- (R) Mike Brown (.111-0-1, 1 R)
3B (L) Michael Bertram (.346-0-2, 4 2B)
SS (S) Ryan Wilkes (.269-0-2, .394 OBP)
LF (R) Collin Cowgill (.419-3-13, 1.409 OPS)
-or- (R) Shaun Lehmann (.071-0-0, 1 SB)
CF (L) Antone DeJesus (.414-0-7, 10 R)
RF (L) Billy Grace (.318-1-4, .464 OBP)
DH (R) Brian Hastings (.222-0-5, 1 2B)
WHY TO WATCH OUT FOR KENTUCKY
? Kentucky is 6-2 with three wins over 2005 NCAA Regional Teams.
? The Wildcats rank in the top half of the SEC in EVERY offensive category except most strikeouts and stolen bases.
? Kentucky ranks second in the SEC with a .491 slugging percentage while posting a .411 on-base percentage. Six offensive starters are hitting .310 or better, with all but one starter above .385 OBP.
? UK starters have four quality starts in eight games and have not allowed more than four runs in any outing. As a staff, the Wildcats have issued fewer than two walks per game, the lowest mark in the SEC outside of Mississippi State (which has played three games).
? Kentucky?s defense has not committed an error in its past three games and has a .973 team fielding percentage ? a 21 point improvement from last year. The percentage ranks 3rd in the SEC and UK is first in the league in throwing out potential base stealers at 50 percent.
QUICK NOTES
? Collin Cowgill has a hit in all eight games this season and an RBI in six of them.
? Cowgill leads the team with seven extra-base hits, one for every 4.4 at bats. With three home runs, he has one dinger in every 10.0 at bats.
? Antone DeJesus has a hit in all seven games he has batted in this year. Dating back to last year, DeJesus has a hit in 14 consecutive games, the longest streak since Billy Grace’s 14-game run in 2004.
? Since starting the season 2-for-14 (.142), Ryan Strieby has seven hits in his last 15 at bats (.467) with five of those hits going for extra bases. He has reached base safely in all eight games this year.
? Kentucky has a home run in five straight games and one in seven of eight total this season.
? The Wildcats’ pitching staff has walked just 15 batters, an average of fewer than two per games. On the flip side, UK batters have drawn 45 walks.
? Kentucky has led in both of its losses this season. The Wildcats have trailed by just one run as late as the eighth inning in both as well.
Kentucky head coach John Cohen quotes
On the series ?
?We?re going to have good weather and it?s going to be a great weekend for baseball. We had some really good crowds for two mid-week games the last few days and I hope the fans continue to come out. It?s a tremendous boost to our players and it?s something they really feed off of. We?re excited to get back on the field against a solid Northwestern club.
On Northwestern ?
?Northwestern has one of the best pitching staffs we?ll see. There will be a flood of scouts in here to see their arms because they?re really good. The lefthander (Dan Brauer) is outstanding. Every time he?s been on the mound this year, he?s had tremendous success. He has really good numbers and is going to be a pain for us. We?re going to really have to try set up some advantageous match ups against him. Northwestern has played a lot of close games this year and will be a challenge for us.?
On his offense ?
?I?m pleased with what we?ve been doing. Everyone on our team ? one through nine ? has been putting together good at bats and really hitting the ball on the screws. A lot of the time it hasn?t found a hole for us, but that?s the way the game of baseball is sometimes. We?re just going to keep our same approach and eventually those hard-hit balls will turn into hits.?
On the pitching ?
?We?re going to go with Craig Snipp on Friday. He?s been tremendous for us so far and we need him to keep that going. After that, Aaron Tennyson threw (Wednesday) night so we?re going to see how he bounces back and take it from there. We hope to be able to get Andrew Albers a few innings this weekend too.
