Grand Slam, 20-Hit Attack Power Kentucky Past Florida
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tristan Pompey’s fourth inning grand slam sparked No. 6 Kentucky to a 12-4 series-opening win over No. 5 Florida in Gainesville, taking out one of the Southeastern Conference’s top starting pitchers in the process.
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UK’s 38 wins are the sixth most in school history and most since the 2012 team won a school-record 45. The Cats’ 19 SEC wins trail only the 2006 championship team’s 20 for most in a season.
The Cats pounded out 20 hits against the Gators, tying for the most they’ve had in a conference game this season. UK scored in five consecutive innings after Florida (38-15, 19-9) took an early 3-0 lead, piling on insurance runs after Pompey’s two-out blast over the right field wall changed the momentum of the game.
UK’s win, coupled with LSU’s road victory over Mississippi State, created a three-way tie for first in the SEC standings with two games remaining on the schedule. The Cats control their own destiny and with two wins would claim at least a share of the second championship in school history.
UK starter Sean Hjelle was erratic in the first two innings, but minimized the damage to give the league’s top offense a chance to get the Cats back in the game. With two outs in the fourth, the Cats loaded the bases off Alex Faedo and Pompey fought off several two-strike pitches before sending a laser screaming out to right field. The shot opened the floodgates and helped push Hjelle to his ninth win on the season, tying him for sixth on UK’s single-season list.
The teams return to the diamond Friday night for a 7 p.m. start at McKethan Stadium. Zach Logue will get the ball for UK and square off with Florida’s Brady Singer.
SCORING
Bottom 1st – Ryan Larson reached on an error and moved to second on Dalton Guthrie’s groundout. JJ Schwarz reached on infield single and Nelson Maldonado walked. Austin Langworthy hit a SAC fly to score Larson. Jonathan India singled home Schwarz. Florida 2, UK 0.
Bottom 2nd – A pair of walks and a SAC bunt set up Guthrie’s RBI groundout, scoring Mark Kolozsvary. Florida 3, UK 0.
Top 4th – Kole Cottam doubled, Marcus Carson was hit by a pitch and Connor Heady singled, all with two outs. Tristan Pompey hit a grand slam to RF. UK 4, Florida 3.
Top 5th – Riley Mahan doubled and scored on Troy Squires’ single. UK 5, Florida 3.
Top 6th – Carson singled, Heady walked and both advanced on Pompey’s groundout. Evan White hit a two-run single to CF. UK 7, Florida 3.
Top 7th – Luke Becker and Mahan singled to start the inning, moving up a base on Squires’ SAC bunt. Kole Cottam singled in both Becker and Mahan. Carson singled and Heady lined a two-run single up the middle to bring home Cottam and Carson. UK 11, Florida 3.
Top 8th – Mahan homered to RCF. UK 12, Florida 3.
Bottom 9th – Maldonado and Langworthy walked. India singled home Maldonado. UK 12, Florida 4.
NOTES
• Kentucky’s 38 wins on the season are the most since the 2012 team won a school-record 45. It’s also the sixth most in school history.
• UK’s 19 SEC wins are the second most in school history, just one shy of the 2006 team’s 20 victories in league play.
• UK now has 17 wins against ranked teams, second only to the 20 the 2006 team had. The Cats are 17-10 vs. ranked foes this year.
• Kentucky has gone 73 games without being shutout, the eighth-longest such streak in school history.
• Sophomore RHP Sean Hjelle pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs (one earned), walking five and striking out five.
o Hjelle’s nine wins move him into a tie for 6th place on UK’s single-season wins list.
o He’s allowed one earned run or less in six of his last seven starts.
• Junior 1B Evan White went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI.
o White now has 218 career hits, moving him past Austin Cousino (2012-14) for 9th on UK’s all-time career hit list.
o White has a hit in 28 of his last 31 games.
o He extended his reached base safely streak to 21 games.
o He has multiple hits in six of his last eight games.
o He has 24 multi-hit games this season and 68 in his career.
• Sophomore OF Tristan Pompey went 1-for-6 with a grand slam.
o Pompey now has hit safely in 39 of his past 43 games.
o He has reached base safely in 25 straight games.
o All nine of Pompey’s home runs this season have come in SEC games.
• Senior OF Zach Reks went 2-for-5.
o Reks has a 10-game hitting streak.
o Reks now has 23 multi-hit games this season and 34 for his career.
o Reks has six straight multi-hit games.
o Reks has reached base safely in 24 consecutive games.
• Junior IF Riley Mahan went 3-for-5 with a double, home run, three runs and an RBI.
o Mahan’s 23rd multi-hit game of the season and 40th of his career.
o Mahan has a 10-game hitting streak.
o Mahan has an extra-base hit in seven of his past eight games.
o He has a team-leading 14 home runs on the season.
o He’s homered in six of his past eight games.
• Senior OF Marcus Carson went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a hit by pitch.
o Carson was hit by a pitch for the 18th time this season, moving into a tie for 6th on UK’s single-season list.
• Junior C Troy Squires went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
o The SAC bunt moved Squires up both the single-season and career sacrifices charts. Squires’ 12 sacrifices this season is tied for fourth on the single-season chart with teammate Connor Heady and Mike Brown (2007) He moved into 10th place on the career list with 20, tying Chris Wade (2008-09).
ON DECK
Kentucky and Florida play the middle game of their series at 7 p.m. on Saturday and 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.
