Young Pitching Lifts Cats to Doubleheader Sweep

After losing a number of key contributors from last season’s pitching staff, the Kentucky baseball team knew it would have to count on a number of young players this season. The Cats won 34 games last season and 21 of those wins were earned by pitchers not on this year’s roster.

Early in the season, UK’s weekend rotation has been anchored by All-American lefty Zack Thompson. Behind the junior, a pair of young starters have been called on to carry a heavy load. And in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of Canisius, freshman Dillon Marsh and sophomore Jimmy Ramsey, along with some youngsters out of the bullpen, were able to come through.

UK head coach Nick Mingione was pleased with Marsh’s outing on Saturday.

“I thought Dillon Marsh responded great,” Mingione said. “Especially from the outing he had down in Texas. It wasn’t the one he wanted.”

Marsh, a left-hander from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, started the first game and faced the minimum number of hitters through four innings. While earning his first career win, Marsh gave up just two runs and three hits while walking two and striking out six in five innings of work.

In the second game, Ramsey didn’t have his best stuff, but still gave the Cats four innings and striking out six in four innings. When Ramsey exited the game, freshman Cole Daniels came in and, with two runners on and no one out, struck out three straight batters to end the Golden Griffins’ rally. Mingione was impressed with Daniels.

“Cole Daniels was just outstanding out of the bullpen,” Mingione said. “In those two games (on Saturday), he faced five hitters and got six outs. Had four strikeouts and a double play ball to get six outs.”

Another freshman, Hunter Rigsby followed Daniels, retiring all six batters he faced, striking out two. Sophomore Carson Coleman pitched the last two innings to earn Kentucky’s first save of the season.

“Really happy with the way our bullpen did (today),” Mingione said. “Hunter Rigsby is another freshman who did great today. Long day, but we did some really good things.”

Senior outfielder Ryan Shinn liked how the team, especially the young pitchers, responded after being swept by No. 3 Texas Tech last weekend.

“Our young pitchers, they’ve been getting a lot of experience, so I think they’re getting a lot more comfortable,” Shinn said. “They’re just showing what they can do right now. We’ve seen it all fall and early spring, and they’re really starting to prove to everybody that they’re going to be real dudes come SEC time.”

Mingione was pleased with how his team responded to a challenging schedule this week.

“To come out with two victories and five wins on the week, we challenged our team that we needed to respond,” Mingione said. “Especially from a pitching and defensive standpoint and that’s exactly what we did. To get five wins in a week is difficult, nonetheless five wins in five days.”

And the Wildcats’ young pitching played a large role in each of the five victories during the week.