Baseball Cats Showing Consistent Ability to Rally Late
Through 15 games this season, the Kentucky baseball team has proven that patience is indeed a virtue. The Wildcats have had a knack for slow starts on offense in 2019, only to show time and again the ability to rally in the late innings.
Kentucky did just that on Sunday in the both ends of a doubleheader. Locked in a scoreless tie with Middle Tennessee, the Cats scored six times in the seventh inning and once in the eighth to win the first game 7-0.
And in the second game, Ryan Shinn hit a walk-off, two-run home run to left center field to lift the Cats to a 5-4 win and a weekend sweep of the Blue Raiders.
While compiling an 11-4 record so far this season, the Cats have scored 56 runs in the first six innings of games, and 47 runs in the final three innings of games. UK head coach Nick Mingione had an explanation for his team’s late-game success.
“Their competitiveness, number one,” Mingione said. “We’ve executed late. They just are relentless. It doesn’t matter how much we’re down. Their compete tool has been really high.”
Shinn, the hero of Sunday’s second game, knows that the Cats will never give up because they are playing for each other.
“It’s just our team chemistry, we’re super close,” Shinn said. “It’s a never panic mentality. We know we’re never out of a game. And we just grind late in games and we just get it done. There’s never any panic in our dugout.”
Mingione knows it took others in front of Shinn to make Sunday’s heroics happen.
“I want to give Austin Schultz a lot of credit,” Mingione said. “With two strikes, Austin Schultz hits a ground ball to the back side of the field. Then Breydon Daniel lays down a really nice bunt to give Ryan Shinn a chance to do it.”
Jaren Shelby, who knocked in three runs with a bases-loaded double in UK’s 7-0 win in the first game on Sunday, likes the Cats’ toughness.
“Resilient, we don’t give up,” Shelby said. “Sometimes, it takes a while to get those runs in, but we’re going to make sure we get those runs. We just piggy back off each other and we feed off one another and make sure we get it done.”
Sunday’s second game was the second walk-off for the Cats this season at Kentucky Proud Park. The Cats rallied for four runs in the ninth inning to beat Northern Kentucky 5-4 on Feb. 27. Shinn scored the winning run in that game on a single by Dalton Reed.
Kentucky’s ability to rally from behind started early in 2019. In the season opener, the Cats scored four times in the eighth and twice in the ninth to beat Austin Peay 8-4. The Cats also rallied in the third game of the Austin Peay series, scoring all 11 of their runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Kentucky also rallied for a big win over Canisius on March 1. Trailing 2-1, the Cats scored five times in the seventh inning and four times in the eighth for a 10-2 win.
And it continued with Sunday’s doubleheader sweep over Middle Tennessee. Knowing that they have the ability to come from behind could be an asset for the Cats as they start SEC play next weekend at LSU.
