Eighth-Inning Surge Pushes Alabama Past Kentucky 4-3, Ending Bat Cats' 17-Game Win Streak
It took a wacky bottom of the eighth inning to end Kentucky baseball's nation-leading winning streak, which finished at 17 games after the Bat Cats fell 4-3 in their series finale against Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Sunday afternoon.
The Crimson Tide got to late-inning reliever Seth Chavez for two runs in the eighth. Following a William Hamiter double down the right-field line that put two runners in scoring position, six-hole hitter Ed Johnson hit a grounder to UK first baseman Hunter Gilliam, who was far away from the first-base bag.
Gilliam took a second to make up his mind, slipping in the infield grass in the process. He eventually threw to catcher Devin Burkes at home plate as the runner Jim Jarvis was scurrying in down the third-base line. The ball beat Jarvis to the plate, but the speedy shortstop was able to slide under the tag of Burkes, tying the game, 3-3.
Kentucky (21-3, 5-1 SEC) challenged the call, but the bang-bang play was confirmed after review. The next at-bat saw Bama (19-6, 2-4) center fielder Andrew Pinckney collect his third RBI of the series, as he singled into left field, giving the Tide a 4-3 lead. The play was far from over, though.
The ball eventually went to second base, as Pinckney went for an extra base while Johnson had moved to third. After over-sliding the bag, he wasn't tagged and then made a run for third base, waving at Johnson to go home. Kentucky was clearly hip to it, as attention turned to the lead baserunner, second baseman Émilien Pitre ran down the runner toward home plate and threw to Burkes.
The play still didn't end, as Burkes failed to complete the catch and apply the tag. Johnson laid next to home plate, unaware that the play was still live. Chavez was behind Burkes, finally got the ball and tagged Johnson before he realized and touched home.
Pinckney ended up on third base, but trusty righty Ryan Hagenow entered for Chavez and got the final out. That crazy sequence was all Bama needed, though, as Kentucky flew out three times in the top of the ninth to end the game. Pinch hitter Chase Stanke was the final out, drilling one to the wall, but into the glove of RF Tommy Seidl.
Kentucky took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh thanks to Grant Smith's first home run of the season, as he took Bama reliever Kade Woods' 2-2 breaking ball over the wall in center field. He had two RBIs in the defeat. The Bat Cats managed just six hits, though it looked like it was again on pace for a big day at the dish, one day removed from having 18 baserunners in a 9-5 win.
Alabama had just five hits as it avoided getting swept. The Tide had 23 hits across the three games, 21 of which were singles.
As it did in the first two games of the series, UK jumped out to an early lead. On Friday night, it took only two batters. Sunday, it took just three.
Wildcat leadoff man Jackson Gray continued his hot stretch, fizzing a grounder back at the mound towards Bama starter Grayson Hitt, which ricocheted off his glove, allowing Gray to reach first base. A passed ball moved him to second, then a sacrifice bunt from Jase Felker advanced the runner 90 feet to third.
Burkes then singled on a 1-1 pitch, sending it to left field, putting UK ahead 1-0. Burkes also had an RBI in Kentucky's win on Saturday and now has 29 on the season.
Alabama answered in the bottom of the first, though, as UK starter Zack Lee hit leadoff batter Colby Shelton, then allowed a single off the bat of designated hitter Will Hodo. The Crimson Tide played some small ball of its own, as slugging first baseman Drew Williamson laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving both into scoring position. Jarvis then flew out in foul territory in shallow left field, but it was deep enough for Shelton to be able to dash home, tying the game.
The tie would be short-lived, as a Nolan McCarthy walk, Patrick Herrera hit-and-run bloop single to right field and safety squeeze bunt from Smith mirrored many of the sequences that the Cats have used to score runs this season, and it once again worked, bringing McCarthy across home plate.
From there, both Hitt and Lee would deal, not allowing another run through the fifth inning. Lee didn't allow his second hit of the game until the sixth inning, he struck out five and walked three in 5.1 IP, allowing just a pair of singles, though he wouldn't earn the win.
Head coach Nick Mingione pulled the senior right-hander after a Jarvis single and a walk with one out in the bottom of the sixth. In came RHP Mason Moore, who gave up two earned runs in one inning-plus on Friday night in UK's 12-inning victory. He wasn't able to maintain the 2-1 lead, as a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position.
Bama's Pinckney then slapped a single to right field, scoring Jarvis, but a dart to home plate from the Wildcat RF McCarthy got to Burkes in enough time for the catcher to move across the plate to tag out the go-ahead runner Hamiter in a monumental play.
Just as it did in the second inning, Kentucky immediately took the lead its next time up to bat. With one out, Smith belted his homer against Woods. The senior Incarnate Word transfer hit eight four-baggers a season ago.
Moore threw a scoreless seventh and handed it off to Seth Chavez in the bottom of the eighth, as the craziness then ensued. Woods finished off the game for Alabama, earning the win and save. He threw three innings, struck out four and didn't allow another hit after giving up the home run.
It's a sour finish to what was still a successful series for the Bat Cats, who took two of three from the Crimson Tide on the road and have now won both of their SEC series this season.
Mingione's crew will now look to start a brand new winning streak. Before returning to Kentucky Proud Park, UK will head to Bowling Green, Ky. for one game against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Tuesday night.
First pitch inside Nick Denes Field is set for 6 p.m. EST.
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