LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The Blue squad narrowly defeated the Black squad in game one of the Kentucky baseball Fall World Series 2-1, on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
The game began as a pitching matchup between two highly touted freshmen pitchers from the state of Kentucky, Colby Brown (Mt. Vernon) and Clint Tilford (Paducah). Both right-handed pitchers hurled three innings, with Brown allowing only three hits and Tilford allowing four hits, including a home run from Black?s Jason Kipnis.
Redshirt freshman pitcher Duran Ferguson earned the win for the Blue team, tossing three innings of one-hit relief. Freshman Chris Burton, entered the game in the sixth for the Blue and closed the contest out to earn the save.
Kipnis got the Black team on the board in the third by blasting a two-out solo home run over the left field fence for the early 1-0 advantage.
With freshman Tyler Gatrell on the mound in the fifth, the Blue team led off with two singles before Gatrell hit two batters, loading the bases and plating Bryan Rose to tie the game. Shortstop Ryan Wilkes, who finished 1-for-2, drove a sacrifice fly into the outfield, scoring Brian Suerdick to make it 2-1.
The Black squad?s final chance came in the top of the eighth with senior Mike Brown on third with one out. Brown tagged up and attempted to plate the game-tying run on an Anthony Ottrando fly out to right but freshman Kevin Bishop displayed excellent arm strength and accuracy, gunning down Brown at the plate in dramatic fashion to end the contest.
The teams face off again Sunday with game two beginning at 1 p.m. at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
The Blue team will look to take a 2-0 lead in the series as they start junior-college transfer Aaron Lovett against the Black?s Chris Rusin.