Lewis Fights Off Illness as No. 10 Kentucky Wins Road Series

The Cats (25-12, 9-5 SEC) reach the midway point of league play with a two-game edge in its division and sit just one game back of the overall conference lead. Sunday’s win over the Tigers upped UK’s road record in league games to 6-3 with trips to South Carolina and Florida remaining on the schedule.

Lewis, a 6-foot-7 right-hander from Suwanee, Ga., showed grit and resolve to squeeze five innings out of himself despite being ill enough he spent the time leading up to the game in the training room. The sophomore gave up just three hits and one run – Brett Bond’s fourth home run of the weekend – without walking anyone before departing after the fifth. 

Junior righty Zach Pop induced a critical double play to end a threat in the sixth inning and Salow struck out four and allowed just one hit over the final three innings. Salow now has eight saves, which ties him for third on UK’s single-season list, and 12 for his career. 

The UK offense manufactured a pair of runs in the fourth and four in the sixth, using walks, hit by pitches, sacrifice bunts and flies to take control a day after baseballs were flying out of the yard with the wind blowing out. Sophomore outfielder Tristan Pompey went 2-for-4 to cap his weekend at 8-for-12 and having reached base in 11 of 15 plate appearances.

Top 4th – Evan White doubled to start the inning. Zach Reks walked and Luke Becker was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Riley Mahan hit a sacrifice fly to LF, scoring White. Reks stole third and scored on errant throw to second by the catcher. UK 2, Mizzou 0.

Bottom 4th – Brett Bond homered just inside the LF pole. UK 2, Mizzou 1.

Top 6th – Tristan Pompey started the inning with a walk and White followed with an infield single. Reks’ SAC bunt moved both runners up. Becker beat out an infield hit to score Pompey. T.J. Collett was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Troy Squires was hit by a pitch, scoring White. Marcus Carson lined a single to CF, scoring Becker and Zeke Lewis, who pinch ran for Collett. UK 6, Mizzou 1.

• Junior 1B Evan White went 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. 

     o White now has 189 career hits, moving him past Michael Bertram (2003-06) and into 17th on UK’s all-time career hit list.

     o White has a hit in 13 of his last 14 games.

     o White now has 12 multi-hit games this season and 56 for his career.

• Sophomore OF Tristan Pompey went 2-for-4 with a run and a walk.

     o Pompey was 8-for-12 with a double, two home runs three runs, three RBI, two walks and a hit by pitch in the three-game series.

     ? He reached base in 11 of 15 plate appearances for the weekend.

          o Pompey now has hit safely in 24 of his past 26 games.

          o Pompey is 17-of-27 (.630) in his past seven games. 

          o In four games this week, Pompey hit .563 with a slugging percentage of 1.000 and on-base mark of .632.

     o Pompey now has 14 multi-hit games this season and 21 for his career.

• Senior LHP Logan Salow earned his eighth save of the season with 3.0 IP of one-hit ball. 

     o Salow’s eight saves tie him for third on UK’s all-time single-season chart. He joins teammate Sean Hjelle (2016) and Alex Phillips (2012) and is one behind Trevor Gott (2014) for second.

     o Salow now has 12 career saves, moving him into a tie with Andrew Albers (2005-08) for fourth on UK’s all-time career saves list.

     o Salow has 82 career appearances, moving into a tie for fourth with Jon Hooker (1998-2001) on the UK all-time appearances list.

Kentucky returns to Lexington to face rival Louisville on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Fans can listen on the UK Sports Network via UKathletics.com and iHeart Radio, as well as on 630 AM WLAP, and watch on the SEC Network.