No. 18 Kentucky Flashes Leather in 3-1 Win Over Missouri; Bat Cats Sweep Second SEC Series
LEXINGTON, Ky. — After demolishing Missouri pitching in the first two games of its weekend series, No. 18 Kentucky turned to its pitching and defense to complete its first sweep of the Tigers in program history on Sunday afternoon.
With the bases loaded and two outs, hard-throwing right-hander Seth Chavez entered the game with a two-run lead in relief of Ryan Hagenow, who had walked the bags full. The East Tennessee State transfer needed just three pitches to get Ty Wilmsmeyer to foul out behind home plate, ending the tight-knit affair 3-1 in favor of the Bat Cats.
The win improves Kentucky to 8-1 in SEC play, its best start in-conference in program history.
Missouri (19-9, 3-6 SEC) left 16 runners on base as the Wildcat pitching staff worked out of jam after jam thanks to a heap of miraculous plays by the defense behind them. Diving stops and tough throws galore put a smile on the face of head coach Nick Mingione.
"I like how we won this game," he said. "We had plenty of times to cave and give in, give our guys a lot of credit, they didn't do that."
Game One: Kentucky 12, Missouri 2
Game Two: Kentucky 10, Missouri 0
Kentucky (25-3, 8-1) had just five hits and drew only four walks, but managed to put the ball in play in all but three of 26 at-bats. Center fielder Jackson Gray was the lone Cat to record multiple knocks, legging out a pair of infield singles.
Sophomore RHP Mason Moore earned his second win of the season, tossing two scoreless innings of relief, though all six arms who took the mound for UK played an integral part in what was the second SEC sweep at Kentucky Proud Park in 2023.
"That's what this team has done all year long," Mingione said. "Each guy we kept bringing in helped out. Same thing again there in the ninth, we bring in Seth Chavez with the bases loades in the ninth and we get the out, and that's what good teams do — they pick each other up."
After retiring the first eight batters he faced, Kentucky starter Zack Lee ran himself into trouble in the top of the third. He hit shortstop Justin Colon on a 3-2 pitch, walked leadoff hitter Luke Mann on four pitches then handed out a free pass to left fielder Trevor Austin after working another full count.
With the bases loaded and two outs, designated hitter Dalton Bargo stepped up to the dish with a chance to try and return some of the early offensive damage that the Wildcats had served to the Tigers in the first two games of the series. Lee was up for the challenge and snuck a 90 MPH fastball by the freshman in a 2-2 count to end the inning.
Kentucky then took the lead in the bottom half of the inning, taking advantage of a pair of Mizzou errors. With two outs, the lineup turned over for Gray, who reached on a slow chopper that didn't make it out of the infield. He then reached second on a throwing error from the catcher Tre Morris, who didn't return a pitch back to starter Chandler Murphy cleanly.
Third baseman Jase Felker then ripped a grounder right at Mizzou 1B Hank Zeisler, but it went right between the legs of the corner infielder, allowing Gray to race home for the first run of the game.
The Cats' defense then helped Lee duck another mess in the fourth. Following a Morris single to lead things off, Zeisler sent a base hit to left-center field. Morris rounded second and headed to third, but a brilliant relay from Gray to the SS Grant Smith to Felker ended in the 3B applying the tag for a big out. Lee then recorded a fly out and foul out to end the frame.
Murphy countered with a one-two-three bottom half of the inning, sending the UK starter right back out the mound. After a Colon single and intentional walk to Mann, Mizzou scored its third run of the series on a base knock from the LF Austin, tying the game while putting runners on the corners with just one out. That hit ended the day for Lee, as Mingione went to his bullpen for some old-school managerial tactics.
In came left-hander Jackson Nove to face the lefty Bargo. The eighth pitch of the at-bat saw Nove come out on top, earning a strikeout for out No. 2. Back out came Mingione, who took the ball from the 6-foot-5 sophomore, signaling to the bullpen for the entry of the righty Moore.
Moore won his battle against Morris, getting the catcher to ground out to Émilien Pitre on the first pitch, retiring the side. Lee's final line read 4.1 IP, four hits, one earned run, three walks and three strikeouts.
"They picked each other up," Mingione said of the UK pitching staff. "Jackson Nove got the huge strikeout, then we took him out and Mason Moore got the one-pitch out, I thought that was huge."
As it's done all season long, Kentucky answered back its next time up to bat. Nolan McCarthy led things off with an infield single towards third base and was then bunted over to second by DH Kendal Ewell. A Murphy wild pitch advanced him to third before Smith acquired his 17th RBI of the season on a lined single into right-center field.
Defense stayed in the spotlight, as it saved a run for the Cats in the top of the sixth. With runners on the corners and one out, Wilmsmeyer laid down a sac-bunt, but fell to his knees as it went fair while the ball dribbled in front of Moore. It was unable to bring the runner home from third, resulting in the second out of the inning, only moving a second runner into scoring position.
Colon then ripped a ground ball the other way down the first-base line, but first baseman Hunter Gilliam made a spectacular diving play, picking the ball, getting up and running over to beat Colon to the bag to end the inning.
"It was game-saving," Mingione said of the defense.
More trouble arose in the seventh, as Moore walked a pair and hit Zeisler to once again load the bags. Mingione made another pitching change, bringing in RHP Zach Hise — who transferred to Kentucky from Missouri. In a momentous spot against his former ballclub, Hise needed just two pitches to get 2B Jackson Lovich to fly out to deep right-center, again getting the Cats out of a jam.
"There's a lot of emotions, this was not an easy outing for him," Mingione said of Hise.
"Going into the game on Friday night I was definitely a little more excited than usual," Hise added.
The top of the eighth again saw ducks on the pond for the Tigers. After intentionally walking Mann to put runners on first and second with two outs, Hise saw his 2-2 pitch to Austin get struck to center, but a full-sprint Gray dove in center field to make another highlight-reel play, saving another run.
"It makes it a lot easier, anytime the ball's hit, you know you've got a pretty good chance it's going to be an out with our defense behind us, so it's really nice," Hise said.
Murphy threw six innings of four-hit, one-run ball for the Tigers and was relieved by Rorik Maltrud — a trusty righty that had walked just four batters entering Sunday. Right on cue, the New Mexico State transfer was as inaccurate as ever, hitting Felker, then walking catcher Devin Burkes to load the bases, then handing out an RBI free pass to Pitre, scoring a huge insurance run for UK.
Hagenow walked two and hit a batter in his unusually-wild outing in the top of the ninth, calling for the entry of Chavez to slam the door shut for good.
Kentucky has now won 21 of its last 22 games, exceeding any and all expectations. It will return to KPP on Tuesday, squaring off against Dayton before hitting the road for its second road SEC series of the season, this time against the Georgia Bulldogs.
"They haven't given days away ... I just knew how competitive they were," Mingione said of his team. "Every team goes in three phases — the first thing you have to do is teach your team how to compete, got to teach them how to win and then how to deal with winning. This team has just competed from day one."
First pitch between the Wildcats and Flyers on April 4 is set for 6:30 p.m. EST. The game will air on SEC Network+.
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