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A beautiful Friday in the Bluegrass was capped off with an intrasquad at Kentucky Proud Park. A nice crowd of fans is in attendance to catch some of the action, and in conjunction with the university's homecoming week, many former Kentucky baseball players are in the ballpark.
The Black team won 5-2 in the seven-inning scrimmage.
Here's how the two teams lined up for the scrimmage and how it played out:
TOP HALF: Bennett returned to the mound for his second inning. Hansen flew out to left field to open the inning. Tharnish struck out swinging for the second out. Bell laced a two-out single into left field that was 105 mph off the bat. Cerny flew out to deep left to end the inning.
Inning results: No runs, one hit, no errors.
BOTTOM HALF: Ryan Mullan, a transfer from Loyola Marymount, took over this inning. Good news for Kentucky that Mullan and Oliver Boone – both of whom are recovering from Tommy John surgery – got some work in intrasquads this week. His first pitch was a 92 mph fastball that missed low to Campbell, but he came back to strike him out. Foscolo hit a bouncer back to Mullan that was redirected off his glove, but Hindle, now at second base, made the play to retire him at first. Gardner drew a two-out walk but was picked off at first base to end the scrimmage.
Sixth inning
TOP HALF: Jack Bennett, a WKU transfer, entered the game for the Blue team in the sixth inning. Lawrence bounced out to Bennett for the first out. Van Cleave struck out swinging for the second out. Brown flew out to left field on a 92 mph fastball.
Inning results: Three up, three down for Bennett in the second.
BOTTOM HALF: Jenkins ended a string of 10 consecutive batters retired between the two teams with a lead-off single into left field. Mattison struck out Schwartz and Hindle to reach two outs, and following a steal of second by Jenkins, he was gunned down by Tyson after straying too far off the base.
Inning results: No runs, no hits, one walk.
Fifth inning
TOP HALF: Bell made good contact (100 mph exit velo) but got under it, leading to a flyout to center field for the first out. Coleman got Cerny to chase a curveball in the dirt for a strikeout. Tyson hit a shot to Hindle at third, who fielded it cleanly and delivered it to first base, where Jenkins – who has played catcher and some outfield this fall but not a ton of first – made a nice scoop to end the inning. Clean inning for Coleman.
Inning results: No runs, no hits, no errors.
BOTTOM HALF: Mattison opened the inning with strikeouts to Cloud and Gardner. Duffey, who was 2-2 to that point, flew out to Van Cleave in left field to end the inning. Both pitchers go three up, three down in the fifth.
Inning results: No runs, no hits, no errors
Fourth inning
TOP HALF: Coleman returned to the mound for his first full inning of work. Van Cleave worked a full count walk, bringing the top of the order to the plate. He was caught stealing on a good throw from Duffey. Gardner made an excellent play sliding to his left to rob Brown of a single. Coleman got Hansen down 0-2 in the count, but Hansen fought off an inside pitch for a bloop into left field. A student manager was in left field this inning, and Hansen took advantage of that and reached second base for a double. Tharnish popped out to first base to end the inning.
Inning results: No runs, one hit, one walk.
BOTTOM HALF: Grand Canyon transfer Connor Mattison started the inning for the Black team. Hindle led off the frame and struck out for the second time tonight. Campbell bounced out to first for the second out. Foscolo drew a two-out but was thrown out by Tyson trying to steal.
Inning results: No runs, no hits, no errors, one walk. The Black team leads 5-2 after four.
Third inning
TOP HALF: Bell stepped into the box to begin the third inning and drew a four-pitch walk. Cerny put a good swing on it to right field, but it's caught for the first out by Schwartz. Bell swiped second and third to move into scoring position with Tyson at the plate. Harris came through with a big pitch to get a strikeout swinging for the second out. That's the final pitch of the day for him as left-handed freshman Will Coleman came in to face Lawrence. Lawrence, who is not playing the field or running as a precaution, chopped out to second to end the inning.
Inning results: No hits, no runs, one walk.
BOTTOM HALF: Gardner struck out to begin the frame but the ball got away from Tyson, putting a leadoff runner on first. Duffey singled into right field to put runners on the corners. The first out of the inning came on a designed play where Duffey took off for second and was tagged out, but Gardner came home to score for the second run. Jenkins roped a 105 mph grounder at third that was knocked down by Hindle, followed by a nice scoop by Brown at first for the second out. Schwartz struck out swinging.
Inning results: One run, one hit. The Black team leads 5-2 after three innings. The Black team leads 5-2 after three innings.
SECOND INNING
TOP HALF: Harris is back out for his second inning of work. He walked Luke Lawrence to lead off the inning. Cerny ran for Lawrence and stole second. Third baseman Ethan Hindle made an excellent play in foul territory to record the first out off the bat of freshman outfielder Braxton Van Cleave, sliding to his right to snag a ball before it could hit the turf. It drew a nice applause from the crowd. Harris walked Brown. That's his third walk so far tonight, so we'll see if he can reel in his command a bit more. Following a double steal, Hansen lined a ball at 98 miles per hour into the left center field gap to score two more runs and make it 4-0. Hansen advanced to third following a failed pickoff throw that ended up in center field. Harris induced an infield popup to second base for the second out, and Hansen was thrown out trying to tag up. Aggressive baserunning is encouraged during these intrasquads, and it's possible Hansen thought he would get to return to third base. It's unlikely he would've tried that in an actual game, but the inning is flipped over regardless.
Inning results: Three runs, one hit, two walks, no runs.
BOTTOM HALF: Bounds looks really sharp so far tonight with his breaking ball. Ethan Hindle swung through one for strike three, giving Bounds three strikeouts through his first four batters. Scott Campbell knocked a one-out hit with an 84 mile per hour liner into left field. Schwartz ran for him and made it to third base when a pickoff to first got by Brown. Schwartz scored on an infield chopper from freshman outfielder Ryan Foscolo to make it 5-1. Cloud lined a single in his second at-bat, but he was thrown out at second trying to turn it into a double.
Inning results: One hit, one run. The Black team leads 5-1 after two full innings.
FIRST INNING
TOP HALF: Sophomore Nate Harris came out pumping 93-95 with his fastball, and froze Hudson Brown with 95 on the outside corner. Following a walk to Carson Hansen, left fielder Jayce Tharnish blasted a two-run homer over the left field wall to put the Black team up 2-0. Third baseman Tyler Cerny tripled down the right field line – looked like Ryan Schwartz might've had the ball roll by to allow Cerny to take the extra bag, but couldn't quite tell – but Harris got Tagger Tyson to pop out to end the inning.
Inning results:Two runs, two hits, one walk, one man left on base.
BOTTOM HALF: EKU transfer Burkley Bounds started the game for the Black team. Freshman shortstop Caeden Cloud grounded out to third to begin the inning. Catcher Alex Duffey roped a 109 mph single to right field for a one-out hit. Bounds dropped three straight curveballs for strikes to freshman Owen Jenkins to strike him out looking. Bounds also got Schwartz to swing through a pitch for strike three. Nice first inning for the sophomore right-hander.
Inning results: No runs, one hit, no errors, one man left on base.
Derek Terry is the founder of Bat Cats Central, a leading source for University of Kentucky baseball coverage. Before leaving full-time sportswriting, Derek worked for The Cats' Pause (2017-22) and Cats Illustrated (2015-17).
Derek Terry
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Derek Terry
