Devin Burkes' Late Two-Run Blast Helps Kentucky Tire Out EKU for 15th Straight Win

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Reality loomed for the hottest team in the nation on Tuesday night.

With its back against the wall, No. 23 Kentucky stayed the course and eventually outlasted the Eastern Kentucky bullpen for a 9-3 victory, the 15th in a row for the Bat Cats. Star catcher Devin Burkes followed up a Jase Felker single with a mammoth two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh, giving UK a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

Three batters later, pinch-hitter Chase Stanke collected the biggest hit of his season, flinging an RBI double out to no-man's land near center field, bringing home Ryan Waldschmidt to increase the lead to two.

"I feel like we got off to a little bit of a slow start today," Burkes said postgame. "I felt like we just weren't clicking, you know— grateful that (home run) made us click. We started to really put it on and really do what we're capable of after that."

Kentucky (19-2, 3-0 SEC) pitching held EKU (8-12, 1-2 ASUN) to five hits as it avenged its 2022 loss to the Colonels. Left-hander Jackson Nove was credited with his third win of the season, as he came up with three important strikeouts to keep the Wildcats' deficit at one in the top of the seventh.

A slow day at the plate continued to pick up in the bottom of the eighth, as the ninth and 10th EKU pitchers of the day allowed four runs on two hits and three walks. Burkes added to his tally with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly, Stanke worked a walk with the bags full and James McCoy smoked a two-run single up the middle to put the cherry on top of the longest winning streak in the nation.

"We're just committed, man. When things aren't going our way, we come together as a team instead of spreading out as individuals," Burkes said. "We got a great team camaraderie."

As its done so many times this season, Kentucky jumped out to a lead. Following a Jackson Gray leadoff-double, a hit-by-pitch and walk loaded the bases for second baseman Émilien Pitre. The Canadian slapped a sacrifice fly out to left field, bringing Gray home.

EKU starter Rian Yates worked out of the early jam, getting a shallow fly out from Ryan Waldschmidt, then striking out UK designated hitter Reuben Church to retire the side.

The Bat Cats then doubled the lead in the bottom of the second, as an executed hit-and-run saw Grant Smith extend his hitting streak to nine games with an RBI single through to right-center field, scoring EKU transfer Kendal Ewell, who took off from second base.

Midweek starter Travis Smith chugged along through four innings, not allowing a hit, putting together one of the best outings of his redshirt freshman season. He walked just one batter and struck out four, but ran into trouble in the top of the fifth.

T. Smith was pulled after hitting the leadoff batter then allowing a single to left fielder DJ Sullivan. UK opted for sidewinding right-hander Ryder Giles to be the first arm out of the pen.

The decision didn't pay off, as with one out, EKU catcher Hayden Duffield — who entered the day 2-for-21 (.091 AVG) — stroked a line drive towards left center. Ryan Waldschmidt laid out, attempting to make a heroic play, but the ball skipped under his glove, rolling to the wall, allowing a run to score while Duffield and Sullivan both wound up in scoring position.

Giles got Santiago Peralta to line out to short, but leadoff man Logan Thomason ripped a two-out, two-run single up the middle on an 0-1 pitch, propelling the Colonels ahead, 3-2.

Yates went just 1.1 innings, but the EKU bullpen wielded a variance of left and right-handers for the rest of the evening. The first three pitchers to come out of the bullpen for the Colonels totaled three hitless frames.

Kentucky sent Nove out to pitch the top of the seventh. The lefty nearly allowed his second earned run of the season, as Ron Franklin belted a triple to the wall in right-center, nearly sending it over the wall.

With the infield in, the 6-foot-5 sophomore fanned a pair, intentionally walked Thomason, then struck out second baseman Jalen Jones to retire the side in a huge spot.

"I thought that's when the game changed," Mingione said of Nove's moment. "They had third base, no outs, and obviously we got to bring the infield and we can't afford to give up another run, and he goes strikeout, strikeout, strikeout, and showed some emotion directly towards our dugout and it just kind of lit a fire underneath our team, and we proceeded to score seven unanswered after that."

"He's got electric stuff. He's gonna be really good for us down the line," Burkes said of his lanky battery mate.

The bottom half of the inning finally saw the Cats break through in a big way thanks to Felker's single just before the bomb by Burkes. From there, the EKU arms finally wilted, ending the midweek upset bid.

Austin Strickland followed Nove with three punchouts in the top of the eighth, before Colby Frieda finished things off in the ninth, sending UK on its next road trip hungry for more.

"I can't help but keep saying, I just love how this team is focused on what's in front of them, and they're just not getting too far down the road," Mingione said. "It's how we've been able to stay locked in. We've told them the most important game on our schedule is the one that we're playing right now. So, we'll do everything we can to handle that and that's what we did tonight."

Kentucky now faces a tall task, as it will head to Tuscaloosa to take on the formerly-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the second SEC series of the weekend.

"They have a really good lineup," Mingione said of the Tide. "They know how to score, they have some veteran guys that have been in the program. So you know, much like every conference weekend, it's gonna be an absolute battle. We're going to need our guys to show up and keep doing what they've been doing and compete hard and do all the little things it takes to win."

First pitch at Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Friday, March 24 is set for 7 p.m. EST. All three games in the series will be televised on SEC Network+.

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