LEXINGTON, Ky. — Sean Coughlin and Ryan Wilkes drove in five runs each, as the No. 21 Kentucky baseball team plated 16 unanswered runs to pummel Wisconsin Milwaukee 16-3, on a windy evening at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Kentucky (10-0) returns to action Saturday in a 1 p.m. EST contest with Wisconsin Milwaukee at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The Wildcats will look to continue the second-best start in the 103-year history of the Kentucky baseball program, just five wins shy of the school-record 15-0 start, set by the 2000 club.
UK will start sophomore Chris Rusin on Saturday against UWM lefty Dan Luczak. Rusin in 1-0 on the season, while tossing 10 innings and recording 10 strikeouts.
Kentucky has now plated an amazing 106 runs through the first 10 games of the season, after scoring a school-record 500 runs during the historic 2006 Southeastern Conference Championship season.
Trailing 3-0 after three innings, the Wildcats reeled off 16 unanswered runs, scoring in each of the final seven frames. Every member of the UK starting lineup had a hit and Coughlin and Wilkes led the way, combining to drive in 10 runs.
Mike Brown, Sawyer Carroll, Brian Spear, Coughlin, and Wilkes all contributed two hits apiece as UK rolled to a season-high 14 hits, after going hitless through the first three frames.
Kentucky southpaw Andrew Albers improved to 3-0 on the season after tossing six innings and allowing only two earned runs, while striking out five batters.
Coughlin, a preseason All-American backstop, scored a season-high three runs, while going 2-for-4 on the day. Wilkes, broke off his consecutive start streak at shortstop at 40 games, getting the starting nod at second base. The position agreed with the Harrison, Tenn. native, as he plated the career-high five runs, finishing 2-for-3 on the night.
Kentucky got a solid performance from its bullpen, as right hander’s Dewayne Oxford and Colby Brown combined to hurl the final three innings of the contest, allowing only three hits.
Wisconsin Milwaukee plated the games first runs, scoring two in the top of the first. Leadoff hitter Grant Berkovitz led off the game with a home run to left field on a line drive that hung up in the powerful Lexington wind. Two singles later and Andy Hetebrueg doubled down the left-field line to score the Panthers second run and give UWM an early 2-0 lead.
After Albers blanked the Panthers in the second, UWM scored its final run of the contest in the third. Nick Wichser led off the inning with a base hit and after a fielding error on UK, Wichser plated on a wild pitch.
In the fourth, UK got its first hit of the contest from senior Matt McKinney. A wild pitch and a Sean Coughlin walk set the stage for a Brian Spear double that scored McKinney. Wilkes strolled to the plate and promptly doubled, clearing the bases to even the game at three.
The next inning began the beginning of the end for the Panthers, as UK plated six runs. DeJesus was hit by a pitch and Mike Brown singled to get the ball rolling for the Wildcats. Carroll reached on a fielding error that scored DeJesus and McKinney was hit by the pitch to load the bases for the first time in the evening for Coughlin. The senior catcher singled to score Carroll and Brown. Spear drew a walk to load the bases for the second time in the inning and Wilkes hung a sacrifice fly in the air to score McKinney. Billy Grace singled on a rope through the right-side of the infield to plate Coughlin and Anthony Ottrando scored Spear via a fielder’s choice. After a groundout ended the painful half-inning for UWM, UK led 9-3.
In what is quickly becoming a tradition, UK scored twice in the seventh inning. Through 10 games, Kentucky has scored 25-percent of its runs in the seventh, notching 27-of-106 runs in the seventh inning alone. DeJesus singled and Mike Brown and pinch hitter Brock Wright drew walks with two outs, to load the bases for the second time in as many innings for Coughlin. The Morrison, Colo. native cleared the bases with a double, to finalize his five RBI performance. Spear singled, his second hit of the evening, to plate Coughlin and give UK a 15-3 advantage.
UK scored once more in the eighth, as Ottrando reached on his first single of the game. Carroll plated Ottrando on a single for the final margin, 16-3.
Panther starter Robert Michalkiewicz took the loss, as Wisconsin Milwaukee fell to 0-4.
Fans in Lexington can catch the action live Saturday on WLAP 630-AM or online at the official home of UK Athletics, UKathletics.com.
