Kentucky Leans on Fiery Home Crowd to Even Series Against No. 4 Florida

LEXINGTON, Ky. — To the tune of a ferociously-loud Kentucky Proud Park, Kentucky baseball rose to the occasion in a major 6-4 win, evening up its series against No. 4 Florida.

Head coach Nick Mingione couldn't remember the last time a crowd sounded like it did on Friday night, as his team corralled nine hits and held a slugging Gator group to only five, though three of them still managed to leave the year.

Designated Hitter Reuben Church and shortstop Grant Smith each clubbed a solo home run, while Church and catcher Devin Burkes combined for four hits and five RBIs. Kentucky had six hits with two outs, leading to five of its six runs.

Zack Lee, Mason Moore and Darren Williams combined for 14 strikeouts in the win, slicing through a hefty Florida batting order.

The ballclubs traded blows in the first, with left fielder Wyatt Langford striking first for the Gators. After smashing two doubles and a single in Florida's 10-3 win on Thursday, he sat on a hung slider from Lee and promptly deposited it to the left-field concourse for a solo home run.

UK answered, forcing Florida starter Brandon Sproat to throw 27 pitches in his opening frame. Jackson Gray reached base for the 21st game in a row with a leadoff single and eventually came around to score thanks to a lofted two-out single into left-center off the bat of Devin Burkes, who extended his hitting streak to eight games.

The Wildcats managed to hold first baseman Jac Caglianone to a measly one single on Thursday, but the super slugger did damage in the top of the third. Lee hung another off-speed pitch and once again paid the price, as the lefty bludgeoned his nation-best 28th homer of the year for a two-run shot to put UF ahead 3-1.

It could have easily turned into 4-1 in the next at-bat, as Josh Rivera drove a 3-2 pitch to The Hook. Luckily for Lee, the 6-foot-4 frame of right fielder James

In the bottom of the fourth, Kentucky was able to tap back into what it found in its 10-0 win over Tennessee last Sunday. Church got the start at DH and made the most of it, crushing the fist pitch of his second at-bat against Sproat for a 451-foot nuke off the batter's eye in center, his third home run of the season.

"Sproat did good in my first AB, he just straight up beat me," Church said. "I was gonna try my best not to let it happen the second time, I caught it flush and was on time for the fastball."

Two batters later, Grant Smith made history, as the shortstop unloaded on a 1-0 pitch, taking it over the wall in left-center for another solo bomb. He became the first Wildcat to hit a homer in fourth consecutive SEC games since Riley Mahan in 2017, tying the game in the process.

Lee's fifth and final inning of the day was his best, as he struck out his fifth and sixth batters of the night, the latter of which came on a painted 3-2 pitch that froze leadoff man Cade Kurland.

Kentucky continued to pounce on Sproat when it got back up to the plate. Burkes delivered his second two-out RBI hit, doubling down the left-field line to score Émilien Pitre all the way from first.

A hit batsman and wild pitch put two runners in scoring position for Church, who continued his big day by scorching a line drive right back up the middle, sending Sproat to the ground, scoring two huge insurance runs to extend the lead to 6-3.

"What a day for Reuben," Mingione said. "That guy hits a home run off the batter's eye — one of the further home runs i've seen here. The gets two strikes on him and just does what it takes ... he puts the ball in play and we get two more."

Langford led off the top of the sixth with his second home run of the game to bring the Gators within a pair, but that was all the damage that right-handed reliever Mason Moore would allow.

He struck out three in the seventh, then worked a one-two-three top of the eighth against the heart of the order, striking out Langford while getting Caglianone to bounce out to second.

"I knew they had the heart of their lineup coming up, my mindset was to just go out there and throw strikes, we have a great defense behind me," Moore said of the inning.

In came Darren Williams, who soaked up the Senior Night crowd and struck out the side in the ninth for a loud, sending 4,286 fans into a frenzy.

"How could Dub not just embrace that? If there was ever a guy that deserved that moment, right there on Senior Day, it was Darren Williams."

"That was as good as the crowd's been all year in the ninth. They could taste it, smell it, they wanted it. That was a perfect example of what BBN can do for our players," Mingione said.

The Cats and Gators will throw down in a rubber match on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch set for 2 p.m. EST. The game will air ion SEC Network+ as UK looks to cement its spot as an NCAA Tournament Regional host.

"It gets feisty between us and Florida, man," Church said. "I don't know about anyone else, but that's the environment i love to be in. It's gonna be a good one tomorrow, hopefully KPP shows out."

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