The 20th-ranked Kentucky baseball team hits the road for the second straight weekend when it travels to Auburn for a three-game set against the Tigers at Plainsman Park.
The weekend starts with a Friday evening match-up at 8 p.m. ET and continues Saturday at 5 p.m. ET The series concludes on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. All three games will be broadcast, with Friday and Saturday’s on WLEX 630-AM and Sunday’s at WXRA 1580-AM. All three are also available online at .
Senior left-hander Aaron Tennyson (4-1, 3.98) is expected to take the mound for UK on Friday against Auburn right-hander Brett Butts (2-4, 4.54). Tennyson earned a no-decision last week as Kentucky lost an early lead in a 7-6 loss to Tennessee.
The Wildcats will send senior southpaw Craig Snipp (4-0, 1.62) to the mound Saturday to face southpaw Evan Crawford (2-4, 4.08). Greg Dombrowski (5-0, 1.21), who leads the Southeastern Conference in earned-run average, starts for Kentucky on Sunday. Dombrowski has four straight starts of allowing one run or fewer and has not given up an extra-base hit in that span.
During the week, UK pounded Morehead State, 15-4, while Auburn dropped a 12-7 decision to Troy. The Wildcats hit four home runs in their game, including two by Ryan Strieby to give him a team-high seven.
Auburn Series Preview
Records
Kentucky – 21-5, 4-2 SEC
Auburn – 12-16, 1-5 SEC
Rankings
Kentucky – No. 20 (Baseball America)
Auburn – not ranked
Games at Auburn, Ala. (times Eastern)
Plainsman Park – 4,000
Friday, March 31 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 1 at 5 p.m.
Sunday, April 2 at 1 p.m.
Projected Pitching Match-Ups
Friday
LHP Aaron Tennyson, Sr. (4-1, 3.98) vs. RHP Brett Butts, So. (2-4, 4.54)
Saturday
LHP Craig Snipp, Sr. (4-0, 1.62) vs. LHP Evan Crawford, Fr. (2-4, 4.08)
Sunday
RHP Greg Dombrowski, So. (5-0, 1.21) vs. TBA
Projected UK Line-Up (Avg-HR-RBI)
C (L) Sean Coughlin (.308-6-20)
-or- (R) Justin Scutchfield (.222-0-7)
1B (R) Ryan Strieby (.386-7-38)
2B (R) John Shelby (.247-6-27)
3B (L) Michael Bertram (.346-2-15)
-or- Matt McKinney (.381-1-10)
SS (S) Ryan Wilkes (.282-0-11)
LF (R) Shaun Lehmann (.230-4-13)
CF (L) Antone DeJesus (.387-2-19)
RF (R) Collin Cowgill (.326-5-24)
DH (L) Billy Grace (.328-4-17)
-or- (R) Brian Hastings (.273-0-11)
WHY TO WATCH OUT FOR KENTUCKY
Kentucky is tied for the best start in the 102-game history of Wildcat baseball at 21-5. The 2000 team also started 21-5 when UK finished 38-20-1. Kentucky has won 12 of its last 14.
The Wildcats lead the SEC in eight offensive categories, including runs with an average of 9.46 per game.
Kentucky has seven starters batting better than .300. Two of the starters not hitting at least .300 are John Shelby, a second-team preseason All-American who went .344-10-52 last season, and Shaun Lehmann, who was third-team All-SEC last year after hitting .352 with five homers and 20 doubles.
UK starters have an SEC best 15 quality starts (six or more innings, three or fewer runs) have not allowed more than five runs in any outing. By comparison, Kentucky had nine quality starts all of last season.
Kentucky leads the SEC in not allowing free passes to first base. The Wildcats have walked only 41 batters in 26 games, an average of fewer than two per outing.
Kentucky has led in all five of its losses this season. The Wildcats have been within one run, tied or leading as late as the eighth inning in all five as well.
QUICK NOTES
At No. 20 in the latest Baseball America poll, Kentucky has broken into the top 20 for the first time since March 2000.
Antone DeJesus is the SEC Player of the Week after leading UK to a series win over No. 12 Tennessee. He is the second Wildcat in a row to earn the honor and the third in the last four weeks. It is the first time in SEC history three different players from the same school have won Player of the Week honors in a four-week span.
Ryan Strieby ranks in the top six in the SEC in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, hits, RBIs, doubles, home runs RBIs and total bases. He and Quinn Stewart of LSU are the only SEC players in the top 10 in each of the triple crown categories of batting average, home runs and RBIs.
Strieby leads the SEC and is ranked third in the nation in doubles with 14. He is on pace to break the school record of 27. He has 22 extra-base hits overall.
John Shelby has six home runs in his last 10 games, including three in six SEC games.
In his last four starts, Greg Dombrowski has allowed one run or fewer while working at least seven innings in each. Dombrowski has not allowed an extra-base hit in that span.
Dombrowski (1.21) and Craig Snipp (1.62) rank 1-2 in the SEC in earned-run average.
Kentucky starting pitchers are 16-1 this year with a 2.84 earned-run average. They have struck out 114 and walked only 24 in 158.2 innings pitched.
Kentucky has walked an SEC-high 157 times while being hit by 42 pitches as well. In fact, UK has scored 84 runs from players who reached via BB or HBP. That number is nearly as high as its opponent run total for the season of 92.
Head coach John Cohen quotes
On how the team will handle being ranked and being favored …
“Hopefully our team will continue to take everything pitch-by-pitch and game-by-game. The rankings are great for recruiting, our fans and our players. It’s a reward. At the same time, it doesn’t change our approach. If it starts to change our approach a little big, as a coach you have to step in say, ‘we need to get back to where we were.’ Hopefully we’ll continue on the same path and not worry about those things.”
On being the hunted …
“In baseball, it can be a hop here, a bad pitch there. There are so many factors that are compelling in deciding a game. I think our club has a level of confidence, that if we focus in and lock in on every pitch, we’ll be successful. If you watch our players, they do a great job of communicating about the game. I love our level of communication and I think it helps with our chemistry. If we continue on that path, everything will take care of itself.”
On Auburn …
“They play a lot of young, talented guys. So far, it’s been a long investment, but you know sooner or later those guys are going to get better and the investment will pay dividends. You saw that with some of our young guys last year.”
On matching up with Auburn …
“I think we match up pretty well with Auburn, although their ballpark lends itself to more of a groundball approach. We have two guys in (Craig) Snipp and (Greg) Dombrowski that are ground ball pitchers. There are certain parks that play big and you want fly balls. I think (Aaron) Tennyson will get a lot more fly balls and that will be helpful to him. The average fly ball can be a killer in a park like Auburn’s, so we really have to go in with a line drive and ground ball approach at the plate.
