‘Nothing to feel good about.’ Kentucky has twice as many hits as Louisville, loses anyway.
Despite outhitting its in-state rival and generating several prime scoring opportunities, including the potential winning run at the plate in the ninth inning, the Kentucky baseball team was unable to record a ranked win against Louisville on Tuesday night at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Louisville, ranked No. 16 in the nation by D1Baseball.com, came away 4-2 winners despite mustering just four hits, compared to Kentucky’s eight.
The Cardinals took the lead in the first inning on a solo home run to right center field by senior outfielder Cameron Masterman, which traveled 401 feet off UK sophomore pitcher Seth Logue with an exit velocity of 102 miles per hour.
Louisville never trailed in Tuesday night’s win, although a game effort from several Wildcats pitchers kept the game close.
Logue started in his usual midweek role and lasted 2 2/3 innings before being replaced by fellow sophomore Wyatt Hudepohl, who is from the same hometown as Logue: Mason, Ohio.
UK head coach Nick Mingione described Logue as being at his best during Tuesday’s game, with 33 of 48 pitches going for strikes.
“He was going at the strike zone with multiple pitches. When he does that, he’s electric,” Mingione said. “I thought the cutter was good, it was better, the fastball command. He gave us a good outing.”
Hudepohl walked the first batter he faced to load the bases with two outs in the bottom of the third, before allowing a two-run single to left field by sophomore Jack Payton, Louisville’s designated hitter.
Payton continues to lead Louisville in hits with 55 this season.
Louisville’s 3-0 lead became 3-1 in the sixth, although Kentucky spurned the chance to put up a big offensive inning.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Adam Fogel struck out looking, Jake Plastiak hit a deep sac fly to left field and Kirk Liebert struck out swinging, meaning the Cats scored only one run from that profitable offensive position.
The Wildcats stranded 10 runners on base over the nine innings against eight different U of L pitchers.
Plastiak continued his strong offensive season and led the Cats with two hits, but even he had his struggles.
During a key eighth-inning at-bat as the potential tying run, Plastiak struck out looking.
The Wildcats had the possible winning run reach the plate in the ninth inning after good pinch hit at-bats by Jase Felker and Nolan McCarthy, who both walked.
Down to his last strike, Daniel Harris IV sent an RBI double down the right-field line to make the score 4-2.
Chase Estep, Kentucky’s best hitter with a .345 batting average and the team’s leader in hits entering Tuesday’s game, represented the winning run at the plate with two outs and runners on second and third base, but hit into a fielder’s choice at third base to end the game.
“We had guys in scoring position, right, we had multiple opportunities to cash in. You’ve seen us do it before,” Mingione said. “Didn’t cash in, but fought until the very end for sure.”
Sophomore Austin Strickland, another Ohio native, gave the Wildcats a season-high two innings on the mound.
Sophomore Magdiel Cotto (one-third of an inning) and Daniel Harper (two-thirds of an inning) combined for three walks in the seventh that scored the fourth Louisville run.
The inning featured a notable decision by Mingione: Cotto was pulled for Harper with a 3-2 count in an active at-bat.
Harper’s first pitch was low, outside of the zone and resulted in a walk.
Kentucky, now 21-16 overall (5-10 in SEC play), has 18 games left in the regular season, with 15 SEC games to go.
The Cats have lost three straight SEC weekend series, and four of five SEC series this season.
Up next?
A three-game set from Friday through Sunday at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington this weekend against Vanderbilt, last year’s national runner-up.
What can Kentucky take from Tuesday night’s game to use toward this weekend?
“Obviously, we didn’t win the game, so there’s nothing to feel good about that,” Mingione said. “I think for individuals they can take and learn from what they did tonight and had success and how they can build off of that to try and give us the next good outing or the next good at-bat.”
Louisville is now 25-11, and Tuesday’s victory was the 670th career win for head coach Dan McDonnell.
Kentucky still leads the all-time series against Louisville, 72-49-1.
This was the first meeting this season between UK and U of L on the baseball diamond, after a scheduled April 5 game in Lexington was rained out.
That game is yet to be rescheduled.
UK and U of L meetings this school year
For those keeping track, here’s a look at how Kentucky and Louisville athletics matchups have played out this academic year.
Baseball: On Tuesday night, Louisville defeated Kentucky, 4-2, at Louisville.
Cross country: At the NCAA Southeast Regional in November in Louisville, the Kentucky women’s team finished third while the Louisville women’s team finished 23rd. At the same event, the Kentucky men finished ninth while the Louisville men finished 13th.
Football: Kentucky defeated Louisville 52-21 on Nov. 27 at Louisville.
Hockey (club sport): Louisville defeated Kentucky twice in a January home-and-home series.
Men’s soccer: Kentucky defeated Louisville 3-1 on Sept. 7 at Louisville.
Men’s tennis: In January, Kentucky recorded a 4-0 victory over Louisville at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Complex in Lexington. UK is now 27-0 against Louisville since the Cardinals men’s tennis program reached varsity status in 1982.
Softball: Last week, Kentucky won, 9-0, in a five-inning game at Louisville. Sophomore pitcher Stephanie Schoonover recorded a no-hitter in the five-inning game, which Kentucky won by run rule.
Swimming and diving: In January, both the Kentucky men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were defeated by Louisville in the annual Battle of the Bluegrass at Louisville. The Louisville women defeated UK 174-126 and the U of L men defeated UK 208.5-88.5.
Track and field: On Dec. 11, members of the Kentucky and Louisville track and field teams, along with competitors from other schools, competed in the Cardinal Classic in Louisville. The meet featured 33 indoor events. UK athletes won 20 events. Louisville athletes won nine events.
Women’s basketball: Louisville defeated Kentucky 64-58 on Dec. 12 at Louisville.
Women’s golf: Kentucky and Louisville played to a 4-4 match-play tie in January in Florida. Because Louisville won the most recent head-to-head meeting between the schools in 2019, Louisville will retain the Battle of the Bluegrass cup.
Volleyball: Louisville defeated Kentucky 3-2 on Sept. 15 at Louisville.
This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 9:31 PM.
