Kentucky Slugs Three Home Runs But Fall in Midweek

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Kentucky offense came to life on a night when the baseball was flying in the Derby City but the pitching and defense couldn’t provide enough support in a 14-10 loss to Louisville at Jim Patterson Stadium.

UK dropped to 26-13 overall and 8-10 in the Southeastern Conference. The Cats now are on a season-long three game losing streak.

Midweek matchups tend to get whacky and this one followed suit with walks, errors, balks and even a non-uniformed personnel dugout interference. UK pitchers issued 14 walks, a familiar refrain that has haunted the Wildcats in recent weeks and followed the game arc of the first meeting between the rivals earlier this season. In that victory, UK held the Cardinals to two hits to minimize the free passes but did not find the same success in this one.

UK took a 5-3 lead in the third inning on an Ethan Hindle home run but a rare defensive miscue by Tyler Bell with two outs led to three U of L runs. The Cardinals then led 8-5 before UK fought back to tie the game in the sixth.

But Louisville hit a pair of home runs and three walks in a five-run seventh that gave it the lead for good.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 26-13 on the season, 8-10 in SEC play.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his 10th season at the helm and now owns a 319-205 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • Mingione is 187-55 in non-conference games.
  • Mingione now is 6-11 vs. Louisville.
  • Mingione is 47-18 vs. teams from Kentucky.
• UK issued 14 walks in the game.
• IF Ethan Hindle went 2-for-5 with a career-high tying four RBI and home run.
• OF Braxton Van Cleave hit his second in the past four games.
• IF Luke Lawrence had three hits.
  • He now has 17 multi-hit games this season and 38 in his career.
  • He has 118 hits in his two-year career, moving him into a tie 50th place on the all-time chart.
  • He has reached safely in 41 of his past 42 games.
• IF Tyler Bell scored three runs.
  • He now has reached safely in 77 of 80 career games.
  • His stolen base in the third inning was UK’s 100^th of the season.
• UT Ryan Schwartz had a double and a home run.
• OF Jayce Tharnish has a hit in 14 of his past 15 games.
  • He now has 18 multi-hit games this season.

ON DECK

UK travels to South Carolina on Friday at 7 p.m. ET to open a three-game series. The game is on SECN+ and the contest can be heard on UK Sports Network/630 WLAP.