Nate Harris delivers much-needed outing as Kentucky sweeps Alabama
After the bullpen covered 8.1 innings on Saturday, Kentucky needed a big outing from sophomore Nate Harris.
After covering 8.1 innings during Saturday's 8-7 win, Kentucky sophomore Nate Harris entered Sunday's game knowing the bullpen could use some rest. He gave the Wildcats what they needed, carrying a no-hit bid into the seventh inning in a 6-4 win.
Alabama didn't get its first hit until a sinking liner from Alabama third baseman Jason Torres fell in front of Carson Hansen in left field to open the seventh inning. Hansen made a sliding attempt in an effort to protect the no-hitter, which caused the ball to roll past him and move Torres up to second. Harris hit the next batter with a pitch, ending his day after six innings.
Although he ended up with two earned runs on his line, it was a standout performance at an important time.
"That's exactly what we needed," Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said. "Boy, was he unbelievable. He was unbelievable in every sense of the word. He was on point with all of his stuff. He threw seven pitches in the first, 1-2-3. Thirteen pitches in the second. Got great shutdowns. He was all over the zone. He got them to be behind in the count, and that's a really good Alabama team. A really good Alabama team and their record shows it. So we tip our cap to him. What a job by him."
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Harris retired the first eight batters he faced before walking No. 9 hitter Brennan Holt, but he got a groundout to end the third. The Crimson Tide put a runner on in the fourth and fifth innings, but couldn't push a run across. Harris was at 84 pitches when the fifth inning ended, but got just what the doctor ordered in the sixth inning as he retired the top of the order in just four pitches.
After the double and hit-by-pitch, Harris was removed for Ryan Mullan. Mullan allowed a double to score a run and then walked a batter, leading Mingione to bring in sophomore Tristan Hunter. Hunter struck out the first two batters he faced but couldn't quite get out of the jam unscathed as Alabama had back-to-back singles to cut the Wildcats' lead to 5-4.
But the bullpen stood strong after that as Ira Austin came up with two huge strikeouts with runners on in the second, and Nile Adcock retired the side in order in the ninth to secure the victory. It was Adcock's first career save, and came just one day after he entered the game in the first inning to help get the Wildcats out of an early jam.
"It feels a lot longer than a day," Adcock said. "It feels like it's two days later. But you just gotta do what you do. The bullpen yesterday, just everybody in general, we knew we were going to have to be hot today. Nate went out there and gave us seven great innings so that the bullpen had a little bit of a rest."
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Mingione said he reminded Harris before his outing that he set a career-high in strikeouts against St. John's and had tied his career-high the week before against Evansville. So while there might've been adjustments needed throughout the week, no one was trying to "reinvent the wheel" before his SEC opener against Alabama. The work throughout the week was beneficial as Harris ended up allowing just the lone hit and striking out five hitters over his six innings.
"Me and Coach (Dan) Roszel were working throughout the week on just making tiny adjustments," Harris said. "Nothing too drastic. I didn't have the outing I wanted last week, but it expired at midnight that day. Ever since, I've just been doing what I can do make adjustments and make it as easy as possible for myself to go out there. Coach Roszel always says to let him do the thinking with the pitch calls, so I just went out there and threw what he called and it worked out for us."
For his part, Adcock believed Harris was due for a good outing.
"He's been talking about it all week," Adcock said. "He knew he was going to have a better outing than last week. I just knew coming into the game, as soon as he threw a first pitch strike, I just knew he was going to go pound the zone and go deep into the game."
With the win, Kentucky improved its winning streak to 13 games and is now 18-2 on the season. Most importantly, Kentucky passed its first test of the season with flying colors. The Wildcats will spend the next two weekends on the road, first against Ole Miss for a Thursday through Saturday series and then a trip to Baton Rouge to face defending national champion LSU. The sweep of Alabama puts Kentucky in a good spot early on.
"I just reminded all the guys who haven't been in our league, it's really hard to sweep a team," Mingione said. "It's really hard, especially a good team like that that's so well coached. I have so much respect for Rob Vaughn and just the job that he does. But it's hard to do. They all matter, but to get it started on the right foot is definitely crucial."
