UK baseball melts down in loss at Louisville

The University of Kentucky baseball team ended a successful road trip on a sour note on Tuesday. The Wildcats struggled at the plate and on the mound, falling 8-2 to rival Louisville at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The Cats began the five-game road trip with a victory at Western Carolina, then took two of three games from Georgia for their second straight Southeastern Conference series win before finishing up in Louisville. With the loss, the Cats split the season series with the Cardinals (25-11) for the second year in a row. They topped U of L 8-5 in Lexington back on April 3.

UK (25-12) appeared to be in good shape early. Trey Dawson continued the Cats’ season-long home-run barrage with a solo shot to left field in the top of the third inning for a 1-0 lead. That gave Kentucky 59 home runs on the season, second-most in Division I.

UK starter Daniel Harper didn’t allow a hit through three innings. But the wheels began to loosen for the Cats in the fourth.

Tyler Fitzgerald led off with Louisville’s first hit of the night, a double down the left-field line. UK third baseman Alex Rodriguez saved a run with his defense two batters later, throwing Fitzgerald out at home on a ground ball for the second out of the inning. But after a wild pitch and a walk, Josh Stowers and Danny Oriente put the Cardinals ahead 2-1 with back-to-back RBI singles.

The wheels came completely off for UK in the fifth as the Cardinals used three walks and a pair of hits to score four runs and go ahead 6-1. In a play that seemed like a microcosm of their frustrating night, the Cats squandered a chance to minimize the damage. With two outs and runners on the corners, UK pitcher Alec Maley caught Stowers in a rundown with a pick-off throw to first. As Stowers shuffled between bases, Devin Mann stole home. On the tardy throw to home, Stowers wound up safe at second and later scored.

Jake Snider’s 2-run homer in the bottom of the sixth put the Cards up 8-1. The Cats scored their only other run in the top of the eighth when Troy Squires walked and later came home on a ground out. UK managed just three hits on the night.

Mound issues

It was a tough night for UK pitchers, who combined to issue eight walks. After starting strong and facing the minimum number of batters through three innings, Harper allowed three hits and both Louisville runs in the fourth. He also threw a wild pitch before being pulled.

Carson Coleman fared even worse. The freshman right-hander allowed three walks and three earned runs while retiring just two batters. With the bases loaded, Maley replaced Coleman and promptly walked home a run on four pitches.

“The bottom line is our bullpen didn’t do a good enough job,” UK Coach Nick Mingione said. “When we don’t throw enough strikes and you give too many bases and you start doing the merry-go-round thing that’s never good.”

Tempers flare

In the bottom of the sixth, things threatened to turn ugly. After giving up the two-run homer to Snider, UK reliever Jimmy Ramsey hit Devin Mann in the helmet with his next pitch.

Mann was unhurt, but had a long stare down with Ramsey before taking first base. Umpires issued warnings to both dugouts as the U of L faithful rained down boos. U of L coaches appeared to lobby for an ejection along with the fans, but Maley remained in the game after Mingione had a discussion with one official.

No one else was hit by a pitch, but fans erupted in another chorus of boos when Maley brushed Stowers off the plate with a high-and-tight fastball two batters later.

Famous fans

A healthy crowd of 3,806, which included a large contingent of UK fans, took in the action on Tuesday. The crowd also included Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino as well as Lonnie Ali, the widow of Louisville legend Muhammad Ali.

Up next

The Cats don’t have much time to dwell on Tuesday’s setback.

They host Florida, the consensus No. 1 team in the country, in a three-game series beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The Gators have yet to lose a Southeastern Conference series this season, while the Cats are clawing their way up the standings after a rough start to league play. UK is now 7-8 in the SEC, two games behind in the race for one of four byes in the conference tournament.

“I’ve been really impressed with this group (with) how fast they’ve been able to move on,” Mingione said. “I don’t ever worry about that with this group.

“You look at what we’ve done over the last several SEC games, I just want to keep going and keep winning series and that’s the bottom line.”

This story was originally published April 17, 2018 at 10:29 PM with the headline "UK baseball melts down in loss at Louisville."