Kentucky baseball off to 4-0 start on 15-game home stand. Here’s what’s ahead.
The University of Kentucky baseball team has won the first four games of its current 15-game home stand. The Wildcats had to work hard to get No. 4.
Junior outfielder Oraj Anu drew a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk to force home Matt Golda in the bottom of the 15th inning Sunday evening to give Kentucky an 8-7 victory over Appalachian State at Kentucky Proud Park in a game the Wildcats trailed by five runs at one point.
Kentucky improved to 4-3 on the season. By completing the weekend sweep of the Mountaineers, the Cats won their 26th straight game over non-Power Five conference opponents, the longest such current streak in the Southeastern Conference.
UK opened the weekend with a 7-3 victory on Friday and followed that up with a 21-4 rout on Saturday.
Trae Harmon, a sophomore who starred in high school at Somerset, homered in all three games of the series.
On Sunday, UK allowed Appalachian State (1-5) three runs in the third inning and two in the fourth to fall behind 5-0. The Cats bounced back to take leads of 6-5 and 7-6 before the Mountaineers forced extra innings by scoring in the ninth.
Kentucky stranded a runner at third in the 12th, 13th and 14th innings before finally pushing across the the game-winner in the 15th. Golda, who scored the winning run, finished 4-for-6 with three runs scored, two RBI and a home run.
Next up for Kentucky are home games against Tennessee Tech (4 p.m. Tuesday) and Eastern Kentucky (4 p.m. Wednesday). EKU took one of three games from 11th-ranked LSU in Baton Rouge last weekend.
Kentucky’s home stand also includes dates with UNC Wilmington, Cincinnati, Murray State, Bradley and Western Kentucky.
Softball
Meghan Schorman pitched a complete game and the 11th-ranked Kentucky softball team defeated DePaul 9-0 on Sunday in the Samford Tournament in Homewood, Ala. Alex Martens was 3-for-4 with three runs batted in.
UK, at 12-3, is off to its best start to a season since 2014. The Wildcats were 4-1 this past weekend with wins against DePaul (twice), Georgia Tech and Samford, and one loss to Georgia Tech.
This weekend, Kentucky will travel to The Spring Games in Orlando, Fla., for a five-game tournament where UK will face Western Michigan, Loyola Chicago, Florida International, Detroit Mercy and Dartmouth.