Jaxon Jelkin, Tyler Cerny lead UK to series-opening win over St. John's

Senior third baseman Tyler Cerny's solo home run in the second inning gave No. 22 Kentucky a lead it would not relinquish on Friday night against St. John's. The Wildcats tacked on a run in the fourth and fifth innings to give some cushion to junior right-hander Jaxon Jelkin in the 3-1 victory.

Jelkin was excellent once again, going a season-high 7.1 innings on 94 pitches. He struck out eight batters and allowed just two hits and an unearned run. He retired the side in order in six of his first seven innings.

Jelkin sat down the first 10 batters of the game before allowing a one-out walk to Jon LeGrande. LeGrande stole second and reached third base on a single by Jayder Raifstanger. But following a mound visit from pitching coach Dan Roszel, Jelkin got first baseman Shaun McMillan to roll into an inning-ending double play and keep the score 1-0.

He cruised along without allowing a baserunner until the eighth inning. Jelkin opened the inning with a strikeout before allowing a single to left field. He then hit St. John's catcher Adam Agresti with a pitch to put two runners on, ending his day. Head coach Nick Mingione elected to bring Jelkin back out for the eighth inning because of how easy his night had been up to that point.

“We kept him in there because the pitch count was so low,” Mingione said. “The innings weren’t stressful. He had four pitches that he threw that were stressful pitches.” 

Senior reliever Jack Bennett entered the game to face pinch-hitter Chaz Wright. Wright roped a one-hopper that hit off Hudson Brown's glove at first base, which was ruled an error to make it 3-1. Following a strikeout on a timer violation, Bennett struck out a batter and got a flyout to end the threat.

Bennett returned for the ninth inning and worked a three-up, three-down inning. In all, the Wildcats' pitching staff retired the side in seven of nine innings.

Jelkin did the heavy lifting in the victory.

“I was just trying to get my pitches in the strike zone," Jelkin said. "In previous years, I struggled with that a little bit, just trying to do too much. Just knowing that I’ve got good stuff and throwing it to where I can let my defense work behind me.”

Jelkin lowered his season ERA to 0.55 in the victory. He's struck out 25 batters and walked just three batters so far this season.

Offensively, the Wildcats collected six hits in the win and left seven runners on base. Cerny followed up his homer in the second inning with an RBI double in the fourth. He came up again with the bases loaded in the fifth but flew out to deep right field.

Second baseman Ethan Hindle came up with two outs and runners on second and third in the sixth inning and nearly added to the lead, but a hard line drive was snagged by St. John's shortstop Rob Mansour.

Cerny, now hitting .345 on the season, finished the game 2-4, tied for the team-lead in hits with center fielder Jayce Tharnish.

“I was just trying to stay middle of the field on a line,” Cerny said. “I knew that first guy was a spin guy. He threw a lot of curveballs and I was ready for it first pitch. After that, he really didn’t throw me that again, so I was back on the heater ready to hit.”  

Up next

Game two of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday. Kentucky improved to 7-2 on the season and St. John's fell to 1-7. Junior left-hander Ben Cleaver (1-0, 1.12 ERA) will take the mound for the Wildcats.