Kentucky baseball wins home opener. Sophomore’s homer, four RBI pave the way.
After a rough opening weekend, the University of Kentucky baseball team is in the win column.
Sophomore Austin Schultz belted the go-ahead home run as the Wildcats knocked off Southeast Missouri State, 9-4, in their home opener at Kentucky Proud Park on Tuesday. It’s the first victory of the year for the Wildcats, who were swept in a three-game series at Texas Christian to begin the season.
Schultz homered to lead off the bottom of the fifth, blasting the second pitch he saw into the left-field bullpen, to give the Cats a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the eighth he followed Coltyn Kessler’s lead-off double with an opposite-field ground-rule double, plating the first run of a four-running inning for the Cats.
“We’re talented, and I think you saw tonight with our offense that it’ll take one inning and then ‘boom,’ you can have that explosion,” said UK Coach Nick Mingione. “We can do some dynamic things offensively.”
Schultz went 3-for-4 with four RBI. He’s now batting a team-best .400.
Freshman John Rhodes went 2-for-4 and belted a two-RBI triple to the center field warning track in the eighth.
First-timers
Two newcomers got their first hit as a Wildcat on Tuesday.
Freshman shortstop Drew Grace slapped a two-out single to left field in the bottom of the second. Junior-college transfer Oraj Anu singled to right field in the bottom of the first. Anu, who was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 16th round of the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft, was also hit by a pitch.
Scoring streak
Kentucky has now scored at least one run in 123 straight games, dating back to 2017. That streak is currently the fourth-longest in NCAA Division I baseball. Eastern Kentucky leads the nation with a scoring streak of 163 games.
Next game
Appalachian State at Kentucky
4 p.m. Friday (SEC Network Plus)
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 7:23 PM.
