LEXINGTON ? Collin Cowgill, Sean Coughlin and Ryan Strieby each recorded two hits and two RBIs as No. 23 Kentucky clinched the series against 19th-ranked Florida with an 8-6 victory on Sunday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
The win was UK?s second over the Gators this weekend, which doubled the Wildcats total wins against Florida from 2000 through 2005. Kentucky was just 1-17-1 this decade against the Gators before winning the series, its first series win over UF since 1999.
Overall, UK improved to 25-8 and 7-5 in Southeastern Conference play. The league start is the best for the Wildcats since 1993 and the team has already matched its conference win total from all of last season. Florida, the defending SEC champion, dropped to 20-16 and 4-8 in the conference.
The game was not as close as the score indicated as Kentucky raced out to a six-run lead after two innings. Antone DeJesus led off the game with a single and Cowgill followed by reaching on an error. Coughlin brought both home with a double to left-center. Ryan Strieby made it 4-0 with his eighth home run of the season, a towering bomb to right field.
In the second, the top of the order struck again. After DeJesus reached on an error, Cowgill launched his eighth homer of the year to make is 6-0. The shot chased Florida starter Chas Spottswood, who took the loss to fall to 1-1.
Coughlin greeted reliever Darren O?Day with his second double of the game, but was stranded to end the inning. The hit marked the eighth straight at bat he had a base knock going back to Friday.
In game one of the series, Coughlin doubled and singled in his final two at bats before scoring the game winning run. He followed that with a 4-for-4 performance in game two that included a double and a home run. His back-to-back doubles on Sunday made it eight straight, including five for extra bases. The weekend raised his season batting average to .350.
Michael Bertram pushed the lead to 7-0 with a solo home run in the fifth. The homer was his third of the season.
With a big lead, Wildcat starting pitcher Greg Dombrowski cruised through the first five innings, allowing just one hit. He ran into trouble in the sixth by allowing three straight singles to lead off. One run came home on an error and two more were conceded by Kentucky on groundouts.
The Gators rallied for two more unearned runs in the eighth to make it 7-5. Dombrowski was relieved at that point by Brock Baber, who earned the 10th save of his career. That puts him in fifth place in UK history in saves.
Dombrowski?s final line was 7 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs ? only two earned. He struck out two and walked two while improving to 6-1 on the year. The six wins matches the most for a Wildcat in the last three years.
Shaun Lehmann rocked a solo home run in the eighth and Matt LaPorta responded with one for Florida in the ninth for the final margin. LaPorta wrapped up the series with three home runs.
Kentucky is off until Friday when it travels to Arkansas for a three-game set against the Razorbacks.
