Sept. 23, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. — In the second intrasquad scrimmage of the 2012 Kentucky baseball fall practice season, the Wildcats got extra-base hits from Thomas Bernal, Max Kuhn, J.T. Riddle and Casey Schroeder and shutout pitching outings from Dylan Dwyer and A.J. Reed, on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
After UK opened official fall team practice on Friday with a 3-3, six-inning game, the Wildcats again split into Blue and Black squads for a five-inning game. Riddle got Blue on the board to open the game with a triple, scoring on Jeff Boehm’s RBI groundout. Kuhn also added a leadoff triple later in the game, scoring on Damon Saunders sacrifice fly.
Bernal got his RBI double for the Black team on a liner smashed into the left-centerfield gap, scoring Lucas Witt, who finished with a single and a walk. Also for the black team, Paul McConkey notched a single into rightfield.
For the Blue squad, Riddle had the triple and a sacrifice fly, while Boehm recorded the first RBI of the game. Austin Cousino, the 2012 Southeastern Conference Freshman of the year, added a walk, while freshman Dorian Hairston added two singles through the left side of the infield. Schroeder, a switch-hitting catcher and a 21st round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2012 MLB Draft, finished with an RBI double down the leftfield line and a single into centerfield.
On the mound, Reed started for the Blue squad and threw two shutout innings. Freshman Kyle Cody – a 6-foot-8 righty – threw two innings, with Chandler Shepherd tossing two innings. Senior southpaw Jerad Grundy started for the Black team and went two frames, while Dwyer didn’t allow a run in his two innings.
Kentucky is fresh off a historic 2012 season that saw the Wildcats set a bevy of school records, including most wins in a season (45). UK returns one of the top teams in college baseball for 2013, despite ranking second in the NCAA with a UK-record nine players drafted in 2012, and during the summer led the nation with nine players in either the Cape Cod League or with the USA National Team.
