Kentucky Walks the Tightrope Successfully to Claim Series

No. 22 Kentucky kept putting itself in sticky situations on a glorious Saturday afternoon for baseball but found a way to make every critical pitch and play to claim a 3-0 victory over St. John’s and clinch another weekend series.

St. John’s left seven runners on base in the first three innings against a Ben Cleaver without his best stuff, 11 for the game and was just 1-for-14 with runners on base while the Cats bided their time until finally getting some breathing room in the seventh inning. Connor Mattison relieved Cleaver and was sensational in earning the win in relief, going 4.0 scoreless innings. Mattison, a Grand Canyon transfer, allowed just two hits, struck out five and twice stranded a runner at third to keep the Red Storm off the board.

The performance on the mound almost was overshadowed by two plays from freshman Caeden Cloud, who was making his first career start in place of a sore Tyler Cerny at third base. Cloud delivered a full count, RBI double in the seventh then topped himself with a leaping snag of a line drive that turned into a double play to end the eighth inning.

Cloud’s insurance RBI came moments after Will Marcy laced a two-strike single to left and saw it skip past Lewis Rodriguez, allowing Carson Hansen to score. The two runs took some of the tension out of what was a 1-0 pitching duel to that point.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 8-2 on the season.
  • UK is 125-65 since the beginning of 2023.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his 10th season at the helm and now owns a 301-194 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • UK is 61-20 in the month of February under Coach Mingione.
  • Mingione is 177-54 in non-conference games.
    • He is 156-25 vs. non-Power Four opponents.
  • Mingione now is 2-0 vs. St. John’s.
  • Mingione is 8-0 vs. teams from New York.
• Kentucky has allowed just one run so far in the series, which was unearned.
• OF Jayce Tharnish went 2-for-4 with a steal.
  • He now is 10-for-10 on stolen bases.
• IF Caeden Cloud earned the first starting assignment of his career.
  • He notched his first career hit, an RBI double in the 7^th inning to provide more breathing room for the Cats.
  • He also calmly turned a double play by leaping to snare a line drive and doubling the runner off second base.
• RHP Connor Mattison earned the win out of the bullpen.
  • He tossed 4.0 scoreless innings.
  • He allowed just two hits, walked none and struck out five.
• LHP Jackson Soucie picked up his first save of the season with 2.0 scoreless innings.

ON DECK

UK goes for a sweep of St. John’s on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The game is on SECN+ and the contest can be heard on UK Sports Network.