Hazelwood, Young Pitchers Shut Down Potent Morehead State
Kentucky sophomore pitcher Mason Hazelwood has had an up and down season in 2019. At times, the left-hander has looked outstanding, while other times, Hazelwood has struggled to find his groove.
In a start on Feb. 27 against Northern Kentucky, Hazelwood pitched six strong innings, allowing only one hit while striking out a career high 11. But in his two starts since that game, Hazelwood had control issues, walking four batters in 2.1 innings against Boston College and giving up two free passes and four hits in 2.2 innings against SIU-Edwardsville.
On Tuesday night, Hazelwood was on his game once again. The lefty got the start against Morehead State and he responded by pitching six innings, allowing no runs and just one hit and, perhaps more importantly, just one walk as the Wildcats topped the Eagles 7-0 at Kentucky Proud Park.
“My fastball was really there for me tonight,” Hazelwood said. “I didn’t have my strikeout stuff like I normally feel like I do. My defense was phenomenal behind me.”
Hazelwood credited pitching coach Jim Belanger with a change that helped him on Tuesday night.
“Honestly, Coach Belanger has been working with me a lot on tempo lately,” Hazelwood said. “He said once I get into a groove everything is going to come out and work exactly like it needs to and I just need to trust it. Tonight, I went out there and just worked with my tempo like he taught me.”
Head coach Nick Mingione was excited about Hazelwood’s effort on Tuesday.
“I thought it started with Mason, the way he attacked the strike zone,” Mingione said. “For him to go six innings and walk just one guy, I thought that was key. And he got our defense involved, which I thought was big.”
What makes the performance even more impressive is that Morehead State entered Tuesday’s game ranked 10th nationally in both batting average and runs. But on Tuesday night, it was Kentucky’s young pitchers that held the Eagles in check.
“That’s a team that averages over eight runs a game,” Mingione said. “They’re hitting over .300. They have a really good chance to win their league. That’s a really good offensive team. For us to throw a shutout against them, that was a big deal.”
A pair of freshmen came in to finish the shutout for the Cats. Cole Ayers pitched the seventh and eighth innings, allowing two hits, and Hunter Rigsby pitched a one, two, three ninth frame as UK won its 15th game of the season.
It was the young pitching shutting down the potent Morehead State offense that was the story of the night.
