Cats beat Bama 9-3 in SEC Tournament

HOOVER, Ala. — By the time Kentucky completed Wednesday's first-round game in the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament it was 2:54 EDT Thursday morning.

And well worth the wait.

The fourth-seeded Wildcats had the most decisive win of the opening round, 9-3, over fifth-seeded Alabama.

UK also swept Alabama in mid-March, the opening three-game series of the conference season.

But that was in Lexington. This was in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover. A pro-Bama capacity crowd of 11,967 at Regions Park had dwindled to no more than a thousand by game's end.

Aaron Lovett, a senior making his first start as a Cat, survived a rocky first inning to go the distance. The right-hander scattered eight hits, seven of them singles, walked three and struck out a career high 12. He threw 144 pitches, 86 for strikes.

"The pitch that they're swinging over the top of over and over is his change-up," UK Coach John Cohen said. "He's throwing it right on right which is a little bit unusual, and left-handers.

And when he commands that pitch and he can throw his fastball in and out, he's going to get some strikeouts."

The Wildcats (42-15) will face No. 8-seed Mississippi next, scheduled for Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT. However, Wednesday's 9 p.m. scheduled start didn't go off until 11:50.

Cohen said left-hander James Paxton probably will start.

Alabama (32-25) will meet top-seeded Georgia in an elimination game, Thursday at 2 p.m. EDT.

Lovett battled through the first inning. Alabama's first four batters singled, all of them hard, to take a 2-0 lead.

"I started to think it was going to be a long day," Lovett said. "But then we also talk about trying to minimize your inning and if you get runners on, try to keep some poise ... I was fortunate to get out of that first inning with two runs. That was big."

Chris "Sparky" McClendon, who had two of UK's eight hits and drove in three runs, helped even the score through one. His two-out infield chopper scored Bryan Rose and Sawyer Carroll. The throw to first by shortstop Josh Rutledge was low and first baseman Matt Bentley couldn't come up with it.

"Sure the guy makes an error but Sparky's giving a really hard 90 — which means he's running as hard as he can from home to first," Cohen said. "He just did a great job. Any time you pressure the defense, you're forcing them potentially to make an error and a couple of those plays happened tonight."

Tyler Odle's second-inning homer to right field put Alabama on top 3-2.

From there, it was all Cats.

Brian Spear doubled in the tying run in the fourth. Lovett wriggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, getting Bentley to ground into a double play.

The Cats — designated as home team by virtue of a higher seed — took the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Carroll, who had two hits, two runs and an RBI, lined a two-out double to the right-field corner. After Collin Cowgill was hit by a pitch, McClendon strode to the plate.

He fouled a 2-2 pitch off an ankle, dropping to the ground in pain. He gathered himself though, worked the count full, then drilled a broken-bat two-run single past the diving shortstop, Rutledge.

"I think that might have been my first (broken bat)," McClendon said. "But it was a good one to break it on."

Crimson Tide right-hander Jimmy Nelson was replaced after walking Ryan Wilkes.

Will Stroupe came in to record the third out. But the Cats teed off on him in a four-run sixth.

Chris Wade doubled off the wall in left-center and Tyler Howe walked. Keenan Wiley put down a sacrifice bunt. Third baseman Jake Smith's throw to first sailed high and down the right-field line. Wade and Howe both scored with Wiley winding up on third.

Bama's Josh Copeland came in to face Carroll, who came through with a sacrifice fly to left.

The RBI was No. 78 for Carroll, a UK season record. He had been tied at 77 with Ryan Strieby (2006).

Cowgill scored the final run. He rapped a two-out single, stole second and came in on McClendon's single to left.

"It was just real important that we come out and get out on the right foot tonight," McClendon said. "We came out and had a lot of energy and a lot of intensity and played a great game. Lovett pitched his tail off."

NOTES

UK won in the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2000. ... Wade's double was his SEC-leading 21st of the season. ... Carroll has hit in 10 consecutive games. ... Thursday night's UK-Mississippi game will be televised live in Lexington on Insight Cable Channel 17 and broadcast live on radio on WLAP-AM 630.

Alabama 3 (32-25)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Josh Rutledge ss......... 5 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 0
Ross Wilson 2b........... 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 2 0
Alex Avila c............. 4 0 1 1 0 2 11 1 0
Brandon May lf........... 3 0 1 1 1 0 3 0 0
Matt Bentley 1b.......... 4 0 1 0 0 2 4 0 2
Kent Matthes rf.......... 3 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 0
Del Howell dh............ 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 4
Jake Smith 3b............ 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Tyler Odle cf............ 4 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 1
Jimmy Nelson p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Will Stroup p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Copeland p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Casey Kebodeaux p.....0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 34 3 8 3 2 12 24 5 7

Kentucky 9 (42-15)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Keenan Wiley cf.......... 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
Bryan Rose dh............ 4 1 1 0 1 2 0 0 0
Sawyer Carroll rf........ 4 2 2 1 0 1 0 0 0
Troy Frazier rf......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Collin Cowgill lf........ 3 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 1
Chris McClendon 3b.......3 0 2 3 1 0 1 3 0
Ryan Wilkes 2b........... 3 1 0 0 1 2 2 5 2
Brian Spear 1b........... 4 0 1 1 0 3 10 1 2
Chris Wade ss............ 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
Tyler Howe c............. 3 1 0 0 1 1 11 1 1
Aaron Lovett p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Totals................... 31 9 8 5 5 12 27 13 6

Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Alabama............. 210 000 000—3 8 2
Kentucky............ 200 124 00X—9 8 2
-------------------------------------------

E - Rutledge(13); J. Smith(9); K. Wiley(3); C. McClendon(10). DP - UK 2. LOB - ALABAMA 7; UK 6. 2B - S. Carroll(20); B. Spear(17); C. Wade(21). HR - Odle(3). HBP - Matthes; C. Cowgill. SH - K. Wiley(7). SF - S. Carroll(5). SB - Rutledge(13); Wilson(8); C. Cowgill (21).

Alabama IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
Jimmy Nelson........ 4.2 5 5 3 3 5 20 24 91
Will Stroup......... 0.1 1 3 1 2 1 2 5 18
Josh Copeland....... 2.0 2 1 0 0 4 6 7 32
Casey Kebodeaux....1.0 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 14

Kentucky IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
Aaron Lovett........ 9.0 8 3 3 2 12 34 37 144

Win - A. Lovett (5-1). Loss - Nelson (3-3). Save - None. WP - Nelson 2(8). HBP - by Nelson (C. Cowgill); by A. Lovett (Matthes). Inherited runners/scored: Stroup 2/0; Copeland 2/1. Pitches/strikes: Nelson 91/55; Stroup 18/8; Copeland 32/18; Kebodeaux 14/9; A. Lovett 144/86. Umpires - HP: Tony Maners 1B: Jack Cox 2B: Tony Walsh 3B: David Savage Start: 10:50 pm Time: 3:04 Attendance: 11967
Stroup faced 4 batters in the 6th.
Game: 052108

RESULTS, SCHEDULE

Wednesday's games

Game 1 — LSU 5, South Carolina 4 (10 innings)

Game 2 — Vanderbilt 7, Florida 3

Game 3 — Mississippi 4 Georgia 1

Game 4 — Kentucky 9, Alabama 3

Thursday's games

All times EDT

Game 5 — South Carolina vs. Florida, 11 a.m.

Game 6 — Georgia vs. Alabama, 2 p.m.

Game 7 — LSU vs. Vanderbilt, 6 p.m.

Game 8 — Mississippi vs. Kentucky, 9 p.m.

Friday's games

Game 9 — Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 7, 4 p.m.

Game 10 — Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 8, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday's games

Game 11 — Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9, 11 a.m.

Game 12 — Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 10, 2:30 p.m.

x-Game 13 — Winner Game 11 vs. Loser Game 11, 6 p.m.

x-Game 14* — Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 12, 9 p.m.

Sunday's game

x-Game 15 — Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14, 4 p.m.

x-If both bracket winners are undefeated, there will be no 5 p.m. or 8 p.m. games on Saturday and the championship game Sunday would be Game 13.