The 18th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats suffered an 8-6 loss to Morehead State on Tuesday night at Kentucky Proud Park. The loss marked the first time the Bat Cats have fallen to the Eagles in regular-season action since 2014.
Here are some takeaways from the Wildcats' loss.
Bats cool off at home
Kentucky started the season hot at the plate by putting up 34 runs over three games at UNC Greensboro. However, that production did not carry over to the home opener.
The Wildcats were out-hit 11-6 and finished 2-10 (.200) with runners in scoring position.
There were several opportunities to cash in, but the big swing never came as the Bat Cats left nine runners on base in the game.
“We hit our goal offensively. Like what we're trying to do, runs, quality at-bats, our take-its, we hit all the benchmarks, just a big hit away from scoring more,” head coach Nick Mingione said. “Eliminate some of the routine flyballs, and I think the score's different, for sure.”
Freshmen deliver at the plate
Braxton Van Cleave earned his first career start at DH and delivered in his first at-bat as he crushed a three-run double with the bases loaded, giving Kentucky a 3-1 lead. Van Cleave came back up as the tying run with two outs in the ninth inning. He fouled off several pitches and worked the count full but popped out to the second baseman to end it.
In addition, Lexington native Owen Jenkins was penciled in at catcher for the third time this year. His two-run RBI single in the fifth inning gave Kentucky a 6-5 lead. However, it was the last run the Wildcats scored.
“Owen has been fantastic,” Mingione said. “The way he’s carried himself, defensively, offensively, he’s been special.”
Chase Alderman struggles in debut
It took the right-hander over a year to make his Kentucky debut after missing all of last season recovering from a torn ACL. He missed the 2024 season at EKU while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Alderman struggled in the first after hitting a batter and giving up a single with one out. After getting a strikeout, Nicholasville native Aubrey Kearns hit an RBI-single to open the scoring.
The righty rebounded in the second with a scoreless frame before more trouble in the third. After an error brought home a run, Kearns hit a two-run homer that gave Morehead State a 4-3 lead. His offense tied the game for him in the bottom half to give him a clean slate in the fourth.
The tie lasted one pitch as Morehead State shortstop Jaden Correa launched a homer over the left field wall to give the Eagles a 5-4 lead.
Alderman departed later in the fourth and finished with the following final line: 3.2 innings pitched, six hits, one unearned run, four earned runs, two walks and four strikeouts.
Defensive woes prove costly
Junior Scott Campbell Jr. was in left field for the game and had a costly error in the third as he charged in on a ball and it went past him and rolled to the wall, resulting in a run scoring.
After the Bat Cats took the lead in the fifth, Campbell lost a ball in the twilight sky that fell for a single and led to the Eagles taking a 7-6 lead two batters later. Despite some of the misplays, Campbell made a nice sliding catch to keep a runner off the bases during the middle innings.
Early in the game, third baseman Tyler Cerny was charged with an error on a sharply hit ball. It was initially ruled a hit but changed to an error postgame.
While it doesn't go down as a defensive miscue, Morehead State scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth when a wild pitch from Burkley Bounds got away from Jenkins and resulted in a run scoring from second base. Jenkins couldn't find it initially and never got to the ball in time to make a play at the plate.
No change in Tyler Bell's status
There's no change in sophomore shortstop Tyler Bell's status. Bell has been out indefinitely since being injured during the season-opener on Friday.
"We got the test done and now waiting to talk to doctors and opinions and see where we go from there,” Mingione said.
