Logue’s Seven Shutout Innings, Mahan’s Homer Spur the Cats

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Zach Logue, Riley Mahan, and Zach Reks powered Kentucky to its second win of the series against No. 23 US Santa Barbara on Saturday. The Wildcats plated one run in the third and two in sixth to beat the Gauchos 3-2 on a sunny day at Cliff Hagan Stadium. 

Logue steadily made his way through UCSB’s order while he was on the mound, giving up four hits and two walks. The junior made his presence felt during his seven scoreless innings, a new career high. Logue (2-1) added four strikeouts, just one from his season-high count at North Carolina.

“The coaches put together a really good game plan for us every single time that we go out there,” Logue said. “My job is to go out there and execute. For me, the main thing is locating my fastball. Early in the game, I wasn’t doing that very well, but I was able to make an in-game adjustment around the third or fourth inning and was able to put up some zeros for us.”

Connor Heady led off the bottom of the third inning with a single before he moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Marcus Carson. Heady later advanced on a wild pitch during Reks’ at bat. Reks broke the game open just a few pitches after with a double to the left field corner that scored Heady from third base, his fourth RBI of the season. 

Junior infielder Mahan blasted a two-run bomb over the right-centerfield wall in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Wildcats a 3-0 advantage on the scoreboard. Mahan owns five multi-RBI performances in 2017 and 12 for his career. 

UCSB pulled back to within one run in the ninth inning after a double to left that scored a runner from first, but it wasn’t enough as Logan Salow struck out Thomas Rowan to end the game and pick up his first save of the season – fifth of his career. 

In a series where runs have been at a premium, the Cats again took an early lead and kept the pressure on the Gauchos. Mahan continued his torrid home stand with four doubles, a home run and 10 RBI in the Cats’ four games at Cliff Hagan Stadium. Reks’ RBI double gave him a hit in nine of the first 11 games.  

By his own admission, Logue was fighting himself for the first couple innings, but settled in and was threatened only once over his seven innings. In his last two starts, he’s 2-0 and has given up just one run on eight hits and three walks while striking out seven in 13 innings. The Cats then went to their blueprint of using Zach Pop and Logan Salow to close out close games in the late innings. 

Bottom 3rd – Connor Heady singled to LF, moved to second on Marcus Carson’s sacrifice bunt and came home on Zach Reks’ slicing double into the LF corner. UK 1, UCSB 0.

Bottom 6th – Tristan Pompey drew a one-out walk in front of Riley Mahan’s third home run of the season, a no-doubt bomb onto the deck in RCF. UK 3, UCSB 0.

Top 9th – Austin Bush doubled to RCF and pinch hitter Billy Fredrick followed with a single that moved Bush to third. Pinch hitter Sam Cohen scored Bush with a sacrifice fly to CF. Armani Smith pulled a two-out double into the LF corner to score Fredrick. UK 3, UCSB 2.

•Junior infielder Riley Mahan hit his third home run of the season. The bomb to RCF pushed his hit streak to nine games, a new career-high besting his eight-game mark from Feb. 28-March 11, 2015.

     oThis is his fifth multi-RBI game of the season and 12th of his career.

•Junior left-hander Zach Logue went 7.0 innings, giving up four hits, 0 runs, two walks and striking out three.

     oThe 7.0 inning set a new career-high, beating the 6.2 innings he completed against Murray State on March 3, 2015.

     oLogue is now riding a 10-inning scoreless streak.

•Senior left-hander Logan Salow earned his first save and the fifth of his career.

•With one caught stealing on the day, opposing base runners are 0-for-7 in stolen base attempts against UK.

•The Cats have outhit their opponent in eight of 11 games.

UK and UC Santa Barbara conclude their three-game set on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for noon at Cliff Hagan Stadium. Fans can listen on the UK Sports Network via UKathletics.com and iHeart Radio or 98.5 FM in the Lexington area. The game also will be aired on SECN+.