LIVE UPDATES: Kentucky vs. Morehead State

UPDATE: Bat Cats' Central's coverage ended after nine innings due to a prior obligation on Sunday evening.

The Kentucky baseball team's fourth and final exhibition begins at 12:30 p.m. The Wildcats host in-state opponent Morehead State in a 14-inning game.

Sunday's exhibition will wrap up the fall practice session for Kentucky. Bat Cats Central has attended every exhibition so far. Here are the takeaways from each of the previous three games, beginning with early October against Cincinnati at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio:

Observations from Kentucky's shaky exhibition against Cincinnati

There were some strong individual performances on Sunday, but it was a tough first scrimmage as a whole as Kentucky was outscored 13-4 by Cincinnati over 14 innings.

Bat Cats CentralDerek Terry

Observations from the first nine innings of Kentucky's exhibition against Xavier

What stood out about Kentucky's second exhibition?

Bat Cats CentralDerek Terry

Takeaways from Kentucky's 11-9 scrimmage win at Indiana

Here's what stood out after 12 innings of baseball at Indiana on Friday night.

Bat Cats CentralDerek Terry

Follow along for updates throughout the afternoon. Still not a member? Support independent Kentucky baseball coverage with a subscription.

KENTUCKY'S STARTING LINEUP

1. LF Alex Kelsey
2. CF Jayce Tharnish
3. 1B Hudson Brown
4. 2B Ethan Hindle
5. DH Braxton Van Cleave
6. SS JP Peltier
7. 3B Owen Lee
8. RF Kaden Powell
9. C Carson May

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NINTH INNING

Score: Kentucky 22, Morehead State 6

TOP HALF: Western Carolina transfer Mason Snyder now in for the Cats. He gets a groundout to third base for the first out. Camden Fuehrer then hit a one-out homer to left field, followed by a walk. Snyder got a routine grounder to shortstop to Peltier, who fielded it and took it to second himself before firing over to first for the double play.

EIGHTH INNING

Score: Kentucky 22, Morehead State 5

TOP HALF: Lexington native Leighton Harris is in for the eighth. Quite a few defensive changes for UK. Riley Jackson in at catcher, Powell to first base, Ellis at second and Chrisman to right field. The inning begins with a leadoff single from Coomer. Harris struck out Glymph for the first out. The second out comes on a fielder's choice on a grounder to Peltier at shortstop. Martin flew out to right field for the third out.

BOTTOM HALF: Van Cleave doubled to begin the inning, followed by a Peltier homer. Lee and Powell struck out for the first two outs. Riley Jackson popped out to the pitcher for the third out.

SEVENTH INNING

Score: Kentucky 20, Morehead State 5

TOP HALF: Burkley Bounds is in for the Cats. He issued a walk to begin the inning. A fielder's choice to second baseman Hindle (the runner was moving on the pitch) results in the first out. The runner moved up to third on a pitch in the dirt, though it generated a swing-and-miss. Bounds got a swing and miss on the same pitch for strike 3. May threw down to first base for the second out, then Brown rifled the ball back home as the runner on third tried to score. May tagged him out to end the inning.

BOTTOM HALF: Tharnish flew out to the right field wall for the first out. Brown homered to center field for Kentucky's 15th run. Hindle followed that with a bunt single down the third base line. Van Cleave is hit on a 2-2 pitch to put runners on first and second. Peltier roped a ground-rule double over the centerfielder's head to bring in Hindle. Some tough luck for him as Van Cleave would have scored as well. With runners on second and third base, Lee was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Powell hit a sac fly to center field to make it 17-5. Peltier scored on a wild pitch, and Lee moved up to third. May drew a two-out walk to put runners on the corners. There was a pitching change as Louden Hilliard, a right-hander, came in for Morehead State. Kelsey was hit by a pitch with two strikes to load the bases. Lee scored on a wild pitch. Tharnish drew a four-pitch walk. Another wild pitch brings in another run. Brody Chrisman, making his first at-bat, also drew a four-pitch walk. Lee Ellis also made his first at-bat. He grounded out to third base to leave the bases loaded.

SIXTH INNING

Score: Kentucky 14, Morehead State 5

TOP HALF: Sophomore left-hander Will Coleman is on to begin the sixth inning. He got a groundout for the first out. He struck out Alex Martin for the second out on a pitch in the dirt, which needed a throw down to first base that was offline, but give credit to Brown for making the catch and tagging the bag with his glove for the second out. Coleman issued a two-out to Lauterbach, but struck out the next batter to end the top half of the frame.

BOTTOM HALF: May grounded out to third base for the first out. Scary moment as Alex Kelsey hit a hard liner that connected with Callum McGill, then was caught for an out. He's being looked at by the trainer, but is being removed from the game. With Morehead State not having another pitcher ready, the inning is being rolled after two outs.

FIFTH INNING

Score: Kentucky 14, Morehead State 5

TOP HALF: Freshman Sammy Swank on to begin the fifth inning. He struck out Becker to begin the outing, then plunked the next hitter. Nick Griffith flew out to center field for the second out. The baserunner on first moved up on a stolen base as May was unable to get a throw down. That was followed by a wild pitch to move the runner to third. An infield single from Brayton Coomer brought in a run. Swank ended the inning with a strikeout.

BOTTOM HALF: Van Cleave doubled off the base of the wall in the deepest part of the park for a leadoff double. Peltier sacrificed him over to third base with a bunt for the first out. With the infield drawn in, Lee hit a shot right at the second baseman, who couldn't field it cleanly. Van Cleave scored and Lee reached first. He was thrown out trying to steal second base. Powell struck out swinging to end the inning.

FOURTH INNING

Score: Kentucky 13, Morehead State 4

TOP HALF: McLean back out for his second inning. He got a flyout in foul territory for the first out. Jett Hudnall was hit by a pitch for a one-out baserunner. McLean got Alex Martin to pop out in foul territory as well for the second out. Hudnall moved up to second on a stolen base, then made it to third base after McLean spun and threw the pickoff throw into center field. Lauterbach singled into center field to score a run. McLean got a strikeout to end the inning.

BOTTOM HALF: May is on to leadoff the fourth. The ball was hit hard, but Becker didn't get his glove down in time. Not a good first few innings defensively for Becker. May moved up to second on a sac bunt by Kelsey. Tharnish singled on a flare into center field to put runners on the corners for Brown. He drove in two more runs with a swing nearly identical to his last at-bat. Hindle struck out and was also called for batters interference while Brown was stealing second, leading to two outs on the play.

THIRD INNING

Score: Kentucky 11, Morehead State 3

TOP HALF: Cole McLean, the freshman left-hander, took the mound for the third inning. He opened the inning with a three-pitch strikeout. That was followed by a groundout to second base for the second out. McLean then got his second strikeout of the inning, aided by another successful ABS challenge by May.

BOTTOM HALF: May chased a fastball out of the zone for the first out. Kelsey drew a one-out walk, followed by Tharnish, who was hit by a pitch. Kelsey and Tharnish executed a double steal to put two in scoring position. Brown smashed a single through the right side for two more RBI. Hindle then cleared the bullpen in left field for a two-run shot. Perez then plunked Van Cleave to put a runner on first base. Following a pitching change to right-hander Jacob Vanover, Peltier popped out in the infield. Van Cleave moved up to second during Lee's at-bat on a delayed steal. Lee drove in Van Cleave with a hard-hit single up the middle. Powell hit a hard grounder to second for the third out.

SECOND INNING

Score: Kentucky 6, Morehead State 3

TOP HALF: McIntyre returned for his second inning of work. He opened the frame with a three-pitch strikeout of Kenner Lauterbach. He then got a fly out to left field for the second out. McIntyre struck out Becker after falling behind 3-0. A good challenge by Carson May on a pitch that was called a ball but overturned to a strike kept the at-bat going.

BOTTOM HALF: A good few minutes for May as he launches a solo homer to left field to tie it at 3-3. Kelsey then drew a walk, stole second base and moved up to third on a wild pitch. Tharnish doubled down the left field line to give the Wildcats their first lead of the afternoon. Tharnish moved up to third on a flare single into center field by Brown. That finished the afternoon for Miller as Morehead State brought in left-hander Colton Perez. Hindle nearly hit a three-run homer, but the ball died just short of the left field wall. Still, Tharnish comes in to make it 5-3. Van Cleave singled through the right side, advancing Brown to third base. Peltier collects a single into left field for another run. A balk was called on Perez to move the runners into second and third. Lee hit a chopper to the first baseman, who fired it home in time to nab Van Cleave to keep the score at 6-3. Powell popped out to third base to end the inning.

FIRST INNING

Score: Morehead State 3, Kentucky 2

TOP HALF: The afternoon opens with Dylan McIntyre on the mound. He hit leadoff hitter Kyle Krupp, then threw a wild pitch to move Krupp to second with nobody out. McIntyre fell behind and walked Nick Griffith to put two on. The first out comes on a deep fly out to center field, putting runners on the corners. Jackson Glymph singled into right field, then the ball was misplayed by Powell in right field, allowing another runner to come in and Glymph to get all the way to third. Glymph scored on a sac fly to make it 3-0. McIntyre ends the inning with a strikeout.

BOTTOM HALF: Alex Kelsey is hit on the first pitch from Morehead State starter Alex Miller. Jayce Tharnish hit a hopper to shortstop that was misplayed for an error. Both runners are safe. Hudson Brown drew a walk to load the bases for Ethan Hindle. Hindle grounded out to first base, but a run scored to make it 3-1. Braxton Van Cleave then singled on a grounder to Brooks Becker at shortstop to make it 3-2. The shortstop got to the ball up the middle but couldn't get on balance in time to make a throw. Van Cleave stole second base to put two in scoring position for JP Peltier. Peltier fell behind in the count but battled back to draw a walk to load the bases once again. That brought Owen Lee to the plate, but he was struck out for the second out. Freshman Kaden Powell also struck out, leaving the bases loaded.