Kentucky played the second game of its weekend series against the Texas Longhorns at
Kentucky Proud Park and came out on top, winning 5-4 in 15 long innings on Saturday.
The starting lineup for the Cats was Luke Lawrence, Tyler Bell, Patrick Herrera, Devin Burkes,
Cole Hage, Kyuss Gargett, Shaun Montoya Ethan Hindle and James McCoy. Nic McCay started
on the bump for the Cats.
It was a scoreless game until the bottom of the second inning. Burkes broke the silence hitting a
double to left field, followed by Hage sending one out the same direction that allowed Burkes to
advance to third. Gargett hit Burkes home to give Kentucky its first run. The momentum
continued as McCoy hit a single out to left field which brought Gargett home and extended the
lead to 2-0.
Texas didn’t get on the board until the top of the fourth inning, when Rylan Galvan hit a
homerun. The Longhorns continued with Jason Flores hitting two runners in and putting Texas
ahead, 3-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, Lawrence singled and then stole second which set the stage for
Herrera to hit him home and tie the game, 3-3/ At the bottom of the sixth things got heated
between the Kentucky head coach, Nick Mingione, and the umpires. Mingione was ejected from
the game after disputing a call on whether Hindle was hit by a pitch.
In the top of the eighth, Ethan Mendoza doubled and then advanced to third on a wild pitch.
Another wild pitch sent him across home plate giving the Longhorns back the lead. However, in
the bottom of the ninth, Hindle kept the Cats alive with a clutch home run to tie the game and
send it into extra innings.
After six extra,scoreless innings, Kentucky finally broke through. Burkes reached base with a
single and Cameron sacrificed a bunt. The Texas pitcher sent the ball sailing over first base,
opening the chance for Burkes to score the game-winning run for the Cats.
The Cats finish up the weekend series on Sunday at noon looking for a final game win to take
the series win.
Written by: Ainsley Saurers
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