Coming into Tuesday’s game vs. Xavier, Kyle Cody’s confidence was shaken.

The junior righthander was 2-4 and had a 6.37 ERA in nine appearances to start the season. He had been pulled from his normal Sunday spot in the rotation and had the last nine days off.

In those nine days, something changed. Cody came out and allowed just two baserunners in four scoreless innings to propel UK to a 6-1 win on Tuesday.

He struck out three and earned his first win since March 8. Xavier brought more than three batters to the plate just once, when four batted in the fourth.

It was just the outing that Cody needed.

“It was a big confidence booster for me,” Cody said. “To go out there and put up some zeros, I haven’t been able to do that the past month or so, but I’m trying to get back on the right track. Tonight was a start to that.”

Preparing for Tuesday’s start, Cody needed to fine tune some things and get back to the basics. He hadn’t lost anything, he just needed to find that edge again. While Cody’s confidence the past few weeks had taken a hit, he still knew he had what it took to win.

Heading into Tuesday’s start, his coach did too.

“Kyle’s done that before,” UK head coach Gary Henderson said after Tuesday’s win. “He just had a little bit of a hiccup for a couple of outings, but he’ll be right back doing what he needs to do.”

It helped Cody to know that not only did Henderson know what he could do, but his teammates did as well.

As he prepared for Tuesday’s start, and Cody and Henderson talked, he got that boost from his coach.

“He told me to do what I’m capable of,” Cody said. “He knows what I’m capable of. I feel like everyone knows. Everyone is behind me. Just trying to get back on the right track and tonight was a good start to that.”

Today was definitely a good start.

With his teammates and coach behind him, Cody was able to focus on his approach to Tuesday’s start. Henderson wanted him to find a rhythm, throw at the bottom of the strike zone and to keep it simple.

Cody got into trouble early when Xavier’s leadoff hitter singled to open the game, but he quickly induced a 4-6-3 double play to stop any scoring opportunity. A groundout ended the inning

He followed with a 1-2-3 inning in the second, with one strikeout and a nifty defensive play from right fielder Storm Wilson to cut down Xavier’s Derek Hasenbeck at first.

In the third, Cody again retired the side, with a pair of pop-outs and a groundout.

Nine up, nine down through the first three innings. In the fourth, which was decided before the game to be Cody’s last, he walked the leadoff hitter. Two strikeouts and a fly out later though, Cody escaped unscathed and primed for his third win of the season.

Tuesday was all about getting that rhythm back and keeping it simple.

“Get the ball down, first of all,” Cody said of the adjustments he made. “Obviously the numbers were not what I’m capable of, I just have to go out there and prove it to my teammates that I can get outings like this. “It’s all mindset issues, confidence issues. Having an outing like this is big for me to get my confidence up. Just moving on to my next outing, I’ll be even better.”

“He did a nice job of throwing strikes,” Henderson added. “The fact that he found his rhythm after the first six pitches of the fourth inning, when it could have gone the other way and it didn’t, he found it and he got back to the strike zone and got the two punch-outs. I’m really pleased with that effort.”

Cody will be the first one to tell you Tuesday was just a step in the right direction and he has a lot of work to do still.

However, four innings with three strikeouts, no runs, one hit and one walk is definitely the game that Cody wanted.

Up next for the junior righty?

“Just pitch when my name is called,” Cody said. “That’s where I go.”

Keep on pitching like he did on Tuesday night and his name will be called sooner rather than later.