Pass the Baton: No. 11 Kentucky Topples No. 1 LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 11 Kentucky rebounded from its worst loss of the season with a resilient 13-10 victory over top-ranked LSU on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium, one night after being overwhelmed in a run-rule defeat.

Senior Chase Stanke, who was celebrating his birthday, had three hits and drove in four runs with a two-run home run and pair of RBI singles to lead a charge that came from nearly every player who stepped between the lines.

The Cats improved to 28-6 overall and 10-4 in Southeastern Conference play.

Sophomore Nolan McCarthy had a bases loaded triple to drive in three and Jackson Gray and Emilien Pitre joined Stanke with three hits each, as Kentucky pounded out 14 hits. Pitcher Mason Moore was excellent in relief, Darren Williams earned the win and Ryder Giles got six monstrous outs to earn the save.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 35-9 over its last 44 games dating to last season.
• UK is 19-10 in its last 29 games vs. SEC opponents.
• UK is 14-18 all-time vs. No. 1-ranked teams.
• UK is 10-31-1 all-time in Baton Rouge.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his seventh season at the helm and now owns a 204-135 career record.
  • UK is 47-47 in the month of April under Coach Mingione.
  • Mingione is 4-9 vs. LSU
• UK has scored in 332 of 339 games under Coach Mingione.
• UK scored five runs in the fifth and five in the seventh, the 26^th and 27^th time it has scored four or more runs in an inning.
• LSU has scored 17 of its 26 runs in the series by batters who reached base via walk, hit by pitch or error.
• Infielder Emilien Pitre went 3-for-5 with a run and two RBI.
  • He had his 11^th multi-hit game of the season.
  • He has seven hits in the series.
• First baseman Hunter Gilliam got back on track by going …
  • He had his 13^th multi-hit game of the season.
  • He reached 200 career hits.
• Outfielder Jackson Gray went 3-for-6 with two runs.
• Outfielder Nolan McCarthy owns a career-long 10-game hit streak and has reached safely in 13 straight.
  • He had a bases loaded triple in the fifth.
  • He has seven multi-RBI games this season.
• Catcher Chase Stanke went 3-for-4 with two runs, four RBI and a walk.
  • He is the first Wildcat to hit a home run on his birthday since Luke Becker did so in 2018.
  • It is his first home run at Kentucky.
  • He added RBI singles in the fifth and the seventh.
  • It is his second multi-RBI game of the season.
  • He had his first multi-hit game as a Wildcat.
• Right-hander Ryder Giles earned his first save in blue with two innings of work, including a game-ending double play.

ON DECK

Kentucky and LSU will settle the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.  The radio call will be on the UK Sports Network (630 AM WLAP, locally) and it will be streamed on SECN+.