Kentucky Wildcats pick up big SEC baseball win over the No. 10 Florida Gators
Every game matters right now for the University of Kentucky baseball team, and the Wildcats picked up a big win Thursday night at Kentucky Proud Park.
John Rhodes lined a two-out, two-run single to center field in the bottom of the eighth inning and UK’s bullpen finished the job in the ninth as the Wildcats defeated 10th-ranked Florida, 7-5.
Kentucky improved to 27-15 overall and 11-11 in the Southeastern Conference with 10 games remaining, including two more against the Gators and three-game SEC series against No. 19 South Carolina and at No. 2 Vanderbilt.
The Wildcats will most likely need in the neighborhood of 15-16 SEC wins to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
They took a step in the right direction Thursday, generating 14 hits off three Gators pitchers, including three from Zeke Lewis and two apiece by Austin Schultz, Ryan Ritter, Cam Hill and Rhodes. Hill joined Rhodes in driving in a pair of UK runs.
Kentucky bolted to a 5-0 lead after five innings before the Gators rallied to tie with a run in the sixth and four in the seventh.
Cole Stupp started and pitched 6 2/3 innings for the Wildcats, allowing five runs on five hits with three strikeouts. Alex Degen closed out the seventh before Daniel Harper (3-0) finished the job with two innings of one-hit pitching, striking out five.
Kentucky’s victory was aided by three Florida fielding errors.
The Wildcats and Gators were scheduled to square off again Friday night and then Saturday at 2 p.m. to complete their series.