Take ‘Em to Church: Reuben Church Shines in Collegiate Debut

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman infielder Reuben Church smacked a pair of doubles and drove in four runs in his collegiate debut, powering Kentucky to a 10-0 win in its series opener vs. Milwaukee on Friday at Kentucky Proud Park.
 
Due to a forecast of steady rain in Lexington, Sunday’s series finale has been moved up to Saturday. The teams will play a doubleheader beginning at noon ET, with both games being seven innings. Fans with tickets to Sunday’s game now will have those accepted for the second game on Saturday, while those with tickets for Saturday’s original 1 p.m. start will be accepted for the noon game.
 
The Cats (2-0) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning when Church fell behind 0-2 in the count before driving a double to the wall in left-centerfield, scoring a pair of runs. He later added a run-scoring double and sacrifice fly to score a run. It was the first appearance for the 6-foot-2, 230-pound infielder from Maryville, Tennessee.
 
Church wasn’t the only freshman who shined for the Cats, as right-handers Seth Logue and Austin Strickland combined to pitch five shutout innings in support of sophomore righty Cole Stupp’s four scoreless innings. Logue and Strickland, both from the Cincinnati area, struck out six and did not walk a batter.
 
The win was UK’s eighth consecutive dating back to last season, which was canceled on Mar. 13, 2020 after just 17 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
 
GAME SCORING
Bottom 2nd – Cam Hill walked and stole second. Ryan Ritter beat out an infield hit. Reuben Church doubled to deep LCF, scoring Hill and Ritter. UK 2, Milwaukee 0.
 
Bottom 4^th – Zeke Lewis and Austin Schultz walked with two outs and moved up a base on a wild pitch. Lewis scored on a wild pitch, Schultz to third. Rhodes walked and stole second. Schultz scored on a wild pitch, Rhodes to third. T.J. Collett walked. Oraj Anu singled to RF, scoring Rhodes. Alonzo Rubalcaba reached on an error, scoring Collett and moving Anu to third. Hill singled to CF, scoring Anu. UK 7, Milwaukee 0.
 
Bottom 5^th – Schultz reached on an infield single, stole second, stole third and scored on Collett’s single to LF. UK 8, Milwaukee 0.
 
Bottom 6^th – Rubalcaba singled to LF, stole second, moved to third on Hill’s groundout and scored on Church’s second double of the game. UK 9, Milwaukee 0.
 
Bottom 8^th – Rubalcaba walked. Kirk Liebert pinch ran for Rubalcaba, advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on Hill’s flyout. Liebert scored on Church’s SAC fly to RF. UK 10, Milwaukee 0.
 
 
NOTES

• UK is 76-26 vs. non-conference opponents under head coach Nick Mingione.
  • The Cats are 65-8 vs. non-Power Five conference opponents.
• UK currently has an eight-game winning streak dating to the 2020 season.
• The UK pitching staff has 16 consecutive games with eight or more strikeouts, including 14 with 10 or more.
• The Cats stole seven bases in the game, tying the Kentucky Proud Park record set in the stadium’s first game on Feb. 26, 2019 vs. Eastern Kentucky.
• Four players made their Kentucky debut: IF Reuben Church, UT Kirk Liebert, RHP Seth Logue and RHP Austin Strickland.

• Sophomore RHP Cole Stupp earned the win on the mound with 4.0 innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed four hits, one walk and struck our four.

• Freshmen RHPs Seth Logue and Austin Strickland each made their collegiate debuts, combining for 5.0 innings of scoreless relief.

  • Logue allowed three hits and struck out three in 3.0 innings.
  • Strickland closed out the game with two perfect innings, striking out three.

• Senior 1B T.J. Collett went 1-for-3 with a walk, a run and an RBI single.

  • Collett recorded his 100^th career RBI in the game, joining the 100-hit, 100-RBI club for his career.

• Freshman IF Reuben Church went 2-for-4 with 4 RBI in his first collegiate game.

  • Church smacked a pair of doubles on the night and also logged a SAC fly to score a run.

 
 
ON DECK
The Cats return to Kentucky Proud Park on Saturday afternoon vs. Milwaukee for a doubleheader that will begin at noon ET. Both games will be seven-inning affairs. The games will be aired on SECN+. The radio call will be on the UK Sports Network.