Tyler Bell Doubles, Homers in Defeat

HOOVER, Ala. – Tyler Bell doubled and homered on the first day on the Southeastern Conference Tournament but Kentucky was unable to hold a three-run lead over the second half of the game and dropped an 8-5 decision to Vanderbilt.

The Wildcats now are 31-21 overall and will wait six days for their NCAA Tournament fate.

UK did just about everything right for five innings as it extended out to a 4-1 advantage. The Cats got a run in the first inning on a Tyler Bell double and Luke Lawrence RBI single. Bell added a monster solo home run in his next at bat before Carson Hansen answered a Vanderbilt run with a solo home run of his own after another Lawrence RBI.

Meanwhile, ace Jaxon Jelkin was cruising through 5.2 before the randomness of baseball kicked in. UK nearly got out of the inning  with a strikeout  that would have ended the inning, but a foul tip turned into a walk. The Commodores the had four consecutive singles – three of which were well-placed ground balls through the infield and two with two strikes – that leveled the score at four. A throwing error on a routine grounder then allowed the go-ahead run to score.

Vanderbilt added three more in the eighth as Alex Kranzler pitch 4.1 innings of one-hit baseball to earn the win.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 31-21 on the season, 13-17 in SEC play.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his 10th season at the helm and now owns a 324-213 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • Mingione is 126-141 in SEC games.
  • Mingione now is 8-21 vs. Vanderbilt.
• IF Luke Lawrence went 2-for-3 with two RBI, a HBP and a double.
  • He has 135 hits in his two-year career, moving him 40th place on the all-time chart.
    • He now has 255 career hits at the Division I level, a top 15 mark amongst active players.
  • He has reached safely in 53 of his past 55 games.
  • He has 23 multi-hit games this season and 44 at Kentucky.
• OF Carson Hansen went 2-for-4 with a run, a RBI and a solo home run..
  • He has homered in back-to-back games.
• IF Tyler Bell went 2-for-4 with two runs, an RBI, a double and a home run.
  • He double in his first AB before homering in his second.

ON DECK

UK awaits its NCAA Tournament fate.