Part 1 (Storm Wilson) – Part 2 (JaVon Shelby) – Part 3 (Kyle Barrett) – Part 4 (Andrew Nelson) – Part 5 (Thomas Bernal) – Part 6 (Zack Brown)As Kentucky prepared for its 2014 season, there was one unanswered question that kept coming up in the preseason. Who would replace UK record-setting reliever Trevor Gott at the back end of a ballgame?UK had some solid options, including right-handed split-finger change-up artist Zach Strecker, power righties Zack Brown, Kyle Cody and Spencer Jack, and strike-throwing lefty Logan Salow. Replacing Gott as UK’s go-to reliever would be no easy task. Gott had shattered UK’s season record in saves twice in his three-year career, also rewriting the career saves mark. While UK never operated with a designated closer in 2014 the way it did when Gott was throwing bullets out of the bullpen, Cody, Jack and Salow formed a nice trio of relief aces. A native of Los Angeles, Jack opened his career with nine consecutive outings that were scoreless and worked 14.1 straight innings to finish his junior season without allowing an earned run. Overall, Jack had a 4-1 record, a 1.16 ERA and four saves in a team-leading 26 games. The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder worked 38.2 innings, allowing just 28 hits and eight walks, striking out 31. Jack started his collegiate career in 2012 for Jacksonville University, before transferring to Glendale Community College for his sophomore season, owning a 2.16 ERA in 16 games. Despite showcasing his strike-throwing, competitive demeanor, Jack was not satisfied with his first few outings. After working 1.1 innings to secure UK’s series-evening win at Alabama, he gave up a 10th inning walk-off hours later in the nightcap of a doubleheader. “You have to take the success and downfall in stride,” Jack said about his mentality after the Alabama homer. “You have to take it one day after another. You can’t get too high or too low, you just have to focus on your plan. That first SEC weekend at Alabama is a prime example. I got us out of that jam in the first game and we won and I’m on cloud nine. Then I came in that night and got the walk-off of me and we had a long bus ride home and I was feeling terrible. I was on the edge. Did I belong here? One game I was getting us the win and the next game I’m giving up the series.”Jack’s defining moment in the first half of the season was when UK turned to him with a runner on third, one out in the top of the ninth inning of a rubber match with No. 1 South Carolina. Jack tossed five pitches to get a swinging strikeout and set up a left-on-left matchup for Salow to get the save. “There were a couple,” Jack said about defining moments as a junior. “The first one that comes to mind was coming in against South Carolina and getting that strikeout was big for me. I felt like I got a lot better towards the end of the year. My bullpens started to get better I started to figure things out. When we got to Tennessee, I felt really strong. I knew I just needed to handle myself and not worry about where the ball goes when it leaves my hand, understand my mechanics and my plan.”He picked up saves vs. Florida, Auburn and Missouri, and earned praise for a save in a win over Tennessee Tech when the wind at Cliff Hagan Stadium was blowing hard to leftfield. He added shutout frames in extra innings at Murray State, before making his biggest outing of the year vs. No. 17 Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament. “When we faced Mississippi State, that was obviously one of the best games I’ve ever played in, let alone pitched in,” Jack said.Jack fired four shutout innings vs. the Bulldogs, working around two errors and setting the stage for UK’s dramatic walk-off win in the 12th inning. The next week, Jack picked up his fourth save with a shutout frame in the NCAA Tournament vs. Kansas, helping UK to an elimination game win and a berth in the regional final. After resting during the summer and battling through a back injury that forced a cortisone shot halfway through the season and nearly two weeks off, Jack enters his senior season healthy for the first time in two years. “The biggest thing now is I’m healthy this year, so gosh that makes all the difference,” Jack said.  “I’m getting better every day and I’m healthy. Mentally I am a little more relaxed. I was on the attack a lot last year and was at points too much on the attack. At some time you have to take a deep breath and relax, be even keel and understand that it is a long season and not to take certain points of the year to hard or too well. More relaxed, understand what I need to do and I’m healthy.”His stuff has also improved over the offseason and preseason, with Jack incorporating a new off-speed offering that will help him combat left-handed hitters. “I’m got a better handle with my third pitch, a change-up,” Jack said. “Early on last year there was a big difficulty for me handling left-handed hitters. I know Hendo would bring me in when there were a lot of righties coming in and if there was a lefty coming up he might go lefty matchup. Now that I am handling my changeup better and can work my fastball to both sides of the plate it is a different story.”I’m more relaxed. I understand that we are playing two seasons. I didn’t really get that last year. You are really playing two seasons, you have some time to figure stuff out and when SEC play comes you have to have your stuff ready.”