FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
Kentucky 9 Marshall 6
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Sawyer Carroll’s five-RBI performance boosted the No. 16 Kentucky baseball team to a nine-run rally, soaring from a 6-0 deficit and notching a 9-6 win over the red-hot Marshall Thundering Herd – its 23rd non-conference win in the past 24 games – on Wednesday evening at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
After starting every game of his college career – a span of 98 consecutive games – Carroll was scratched from the starting lineup in order to take a final exam, in Italian. Carroll, a National Player of the Year award candidate, completed his final exam around 7 p.m. ET as Kentucky made it through the first 1 ½ innings. By 7:15 p.m., Carroll was standing in the batters box as a pinch hitter, finishing the night 1-for-3 with a career-high five RBI. On the year Carroll, who leads the Southeastern Conference with a .431 average, has totaled 63 RBI in just 45 games, good for a tie for fifth place all-time on the single-season UK record books. A year ago, Carroll finished with 56 RBI in UK’s 54 games.
Carroll was the run-producer in the game but UK got three-hit performances from shortstop Chris Wade and catcher Tyler Howe. Wade added two doubles, his team-best 16th and 17th two-baggers on the year, going 3-for-3 on the night with an RBI. Howe finished 3-for-4 with an RBI. Chris McClendon tallied the other multi-hit game for UK, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
The Wildcats have not lost a home non-conference game since an April 18, 2007 setback vs. Morehead State, a span of 26 games.
Kentucky dug itself an early 5-0 hole as UK starter Clint Tilford got hammered for six hits and five runs through one inning. The UK bullpen pitched flawlessly for the second consecutive game, as the Wildcats have not allowed an earned run in 11 1/3 innings, the last coming on Saturday at Vanderbilt. The UK bullpen has allowed only one earned run in the past 20 innings.
Scott Green (5-2) picked up the win, tossing the two decisive innings, allowing two hits and one unearned run. Logan Darnell, Tommy Warner, Brock Baber and Andrew Albers combined to blank the Thundering Herd, with Albers picking up his third save in UK’s past three games, tossing the ninth. On Monday, Albers was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week.
Marshall (23-22-1, 9-8 C-USA) entered the game winners in nine of its past 11 games, posting 50 runs combined in its past five games. After starter Ian Kadish held the UK bats to two hits and five strikeouts through four innings, Justin Moore came on in relief, allowing four hits and six runs, taking the loss.
Kentucky returns to action on Friday, hosting the red-hot LSU Tigers in a pivotal three-game series. First pitch Friday at Cliff Hagan Stadium is slated for 6:30 p.m. ET.
Marshall jumped all over the Wildcats in the second inning, getting five hits and five runs to take a commanding 5-0 lead. The inning started when Nate Lape, a North Carolina transfer, roped his 14th home run of the season over the left-field fence. Tilford then surrendered four consecutive singles to Marshall, before handing the ball over to Darnell, who got out of the jam.
Kentucky narrowed the lead to 5-2 in the fifth inning, beginning when Howe got his first hit of the game, a hard single into left field. Wade followed, ripping his first double of the year into left. Carroll notched his first RBI, a groundout and freshman Chris Bisson did the same, scoring Wade with an RBI groundout.
Marshall extended its lead to 6-2 with a run in the sixth, taking advantage of one hit and an error. Jeff Rowley singled through the infield to lead off, moving to third on two groundouts. Leadoff man Adam Yeager hit a hard line drive right back at Green, the UK pitcher, who deflected the ball right to Wade at shortstop. Wade attempted to change directions but booted the ball, not in time to get the speedy Yeager, allowing Rowley to score.
The Wildcats got four runs to tie the game 6-6 in the sixth inning. Bryan Rose led off with a walk and Collin Cowgill singled. McClendon hit into a fielders choice, with Cowgill out on the play, allowing Rose to move to third. McClendon moved to second on a wild pitch and Brian Spear drew a walk to load the bases. Howe grounded out for an RBI, scoring Rose and Chris Wade got hit by a pitch to load the bases up for Carroll. Carroll, whose two-RBI triple served as the game-winner at No. 10 Vanderbilt on Sunday, emptied the bags with a double into the opposite field gap.
Kentucky took a 8-6 lead with two runs in the seventh, as McClendon, Spear and Howe all singled with one out. Wade drove in one with a single of his own and Carroll played Spear with a sacrifice fly.
UK got an insurance run in the eighth, as Keenan Wiley led off with a bunt single and Rose moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice. McClendon scored Wiley with an RBI single through the right side.
Marshall designated hitter Victor Gomez, the reigning C-USA Player of the Week, finished with a game-best 4-for-5 night at the plate.
Louisville 8 Western Kentucky 7
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville had to fight back from two different deficits to capture a dramatic 8-7 win over Western Kentucky Wednesday night, the fourth straight win for the Cardinals, completing a nine-game homestand with a 7-2 record.
The Hilltoppers (24-20) took a 2-0 lead in the first on an RBI groundout by Chad Cregar and a run-scoring single off the bat of Jeremy Coleman.
A solo home run by right fielder Rye Davis opened the top of the second for Western, making it 3-0.
Cregar then singled leading off the third, and Wade Gaynor tripled to right center for a 4-0 advantage. J.B. Paxson’s double down the line upped the lead to 5-0 WKU.
Louisville got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Drew Haynes was hit by a pitch with one out and John Dao tripled him home.
Chris Dominguez tripled off the wall in center to open the Cardinals (28-17) fourth and scored on an RBI single by Andrew Clark. A single by Jeff Arnold put runners at the corners with nobody out and extended Arnold’s career-best hit streak to 15 games, the longest by a Cardinal this season.
On a double steal, Arnold broke for second, and as the throw was sent to the bag by Paxson, Clark broke for the plate. The throw was wide of the bag and sailed into center field, allowing Arnold to move to third, where he scored on an RBI double by Josh Richmond, cutting the Western lead to a single run, 5-4.
Clark walked to open the Louisville sixth and tied the game at five on Richmond’s second RBI double of the contest.
Louisville loaded the bases in the seventh, but could not push a run across. With two out in the top of the eighth, WKU regained the lead after a 3-2 pitch just missed for ball four to Terrance Dayleg, and Cregar followed with his 18th home run of the season, putting the Toppers back on top 7-5.
With one down in the bottom of the eighth Richmond singled, and Haynes drew a walk.
Dao singled a run home for his fourth hit of the game, cutting the lead to one, and Justin McClanahan was hit by a pitch for the second time on the game, loading the bases for Dominguez.
The sophomore third baseman worked the count to 2-2 before rifling a pitch to the second baseman Drew Morgan, who could not come up with it, plating the tying run on Haynes, and what turned out to be the winning run in Dao.
B.J. Rosenberg entered to pitch the ninth, and allowed a single, but collected three strikeouts, earning his fourth save of the season.
Jon Clarence, the fifth Cardinal pitcher of the day improved to 1-0 with his first collegiate win, allowing a run on a hit in a third of an inning.
Fellow freshman Bob Revesz started for the Cards, allowing four runs on six hits, striking out one in two-plus innings. He was followed by Gabriel Shaw, who was touched for a run on five hits and a walk in two innings, striking out two.
Gavin Logsdon worked two scoreless innings, giving up a hit and fanning three. Thomas Royse gave up a run on a hit and a walk in an inning an two-thirds, but struck out all five he retired.
WKU tried to find the right match-ups out of the bullpen after starter Matt Hightower exited the game, using five arms – none of which went more than two-thirds of an inning. Bryce Jenney fell to 0-2 while taking the loss. He gave up three runs, one of which was earned, on two hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
Dao collected his second career four-hit game, while Richmond had three base knocks, each driving in two.
Louisville has won 12 of 15, and will travel to Washington, D.C. where they will play Georgetown in a three-game series over the weekend beginning Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET. Audio broadcasts will be available on-line through UofL All Access at UofLsports.com.
TCU 5 UT-Arlington 2
ARLINGTON, Texas – The TCU Horned Frogs got back in the win column on Wednesday night with a 5-2 victory over UT-Arlington. The Frogs used a pair of two-run innings to help propel them to the win. Paul Gerrish earned his fourth win of the season and Taylor Cragin notched his first save of the season. Matt Carpenter had a triple and an RBI to lead the TCU offense.
Paul Gerrish worked out of a mini-jam in the bottom of the first and the Frogs carried the momentum into the next inning as they struck for two runs on just one hit. Bryan Holaday was plunked on the left side with one out. Matt Carpenter followed with a triple to the gap in right center for the 1-0 lead. Hunt Woodruff dropped down a beautiful suicide squeeze to plate Carpenter for the 2-0 Horned Frog lead.
TCU kept adding to its lead in the third inning as it tacked on two more runs on a pair of hits. Ben Carruthers led off the frame with a two-strike double to left field. An errant pick-off throw moved him up 90 feet where he scored on a base hit by Bryan Kervin. Two wild pitches later, Kervin was on third where he was able to score on a long sacrifice fly off the bat of Chris Ellington.
After retiring nine straight batters, Gerrish found himself in a jam in the fourth inning. He hit two batters in a row before getting the second out of the inning. A two-out infield single got the Mavericks on the board as Evan Raley drove home UTA’s first run of the game.
Gerrish got through five innings for the Frogs, allowing just the one run on four hits in the win. He walked one and struck out four before giving way to Trent Appleby in the sixth inning.
The Frogs picked up a run in the top of the eighth inning to regain their four run lead. Clint Arnold singled through the right side with one out and moved to second on a Grant Varner balk. Chris Ellington reached on an infield single, but a misplay by the shortstop allowed Arnold to score the Frogs’ fifth run of the game.
UT-Arlington looked like they had something going in the bottom of the inning as they had three hits and a run in before an out was recorded. Appleby did a great job to get out of the jam and got some help from his defense behind him. With runners on first and second, Justin McPherson bounced a ball up the middle that second baseman Carruthers made a diving stop on. He flipped to Kervin on the base, who turned the 4-6-3 twin killing with a strike to Matt Vern at first.
Taylor Cragin came on in the ninth to tally his first save of the season. He pitched around a lead-off single, striking out Danny Slinkman to end the game.
TCU improves to 30-16 on the season. They will return to league play as they try and maintain their half-game advantage over New Mexico. The Utah Utes will head to Fort Worth for a three-game series beginning Friday night at 6:30 p.m. Tyler Lockwood will get the call for the Frogs.
Ohio State 15 Eastern Michigan 12
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State surrendered a big lead to Eastern Michigan but rallied late to defeat the Eagles, 15-12, on Wednesday at Bill Davis Stadium. Freshman Chris Griffin, in his first extensive playing time, had the go-ahead RBI with a seventh inning single to spark the Buckeyes.
Justin Miller led the Buckeyes offensively with four hits and three RBI. Every starter had hits for the Buckeyes, with Ryan Meade collecting two hits including his first career home run. Zach Hurley, Brian DeLucia, Dan Burkhart and Tyler Engle also had two hits. Josh Edgin struck out a career-high eight batters in 3.0 innings of work. Eric Best got the win in relief and improved to 2-1. Alex Wimmers pitched the final two innings, striking out four EMU batters, to earn his third save of the year.
Ohio State clicked early against EMU starter Tim Combs, scoring a run in the first on an RBI single by Miller and then adding nine more in the second to build a 10-0 lead. The nine-run inning was a season-high for the Buckeyes. Highlights of the second inning:
· The Buckeyes had 10 hits (eight singles and two doubles).
· Hurley had two singles and scored two runs.
· Burkhart had two singles and drove in a pair of runs.
· Miller, who has been on a tear throughout the month of April, had a two-run double.
· Dew stroked a two-run single.
· Engle had two hits, including a run-scoring double, and scored a run.
Edgin, meanwhile, was razor sharp on the mound for the Buckeyes through the first two innings. The first six Eagle outs were Edgin strikeouts, which tied the sophomore’s career high set last year vs. Purdue.
Despite trailing 10-0, Eastern Michigan didn’t quit. The Eagles scored four runs in the top of the third off five hits to close the gap to six runs at 10-4. But Edgin re-discovered his groove before any more damage could be done, striking out Zach Leonard and Michael Boyd – setting a new career strikeout high in the process – to end the inning.
The first career home run by freshman Ryan Meade in the third inning, an opposite field, two-run shot, extended the lead to 12-4.
EMU came right back, though. Edgin was replaced at the start of the inning and the Eagles scored five runs off three hits with Jeff Leonard’s three-run home run to right field the big hit of the inning.
An RBI single in the fifth by Josh Ivan brought the Eagles to within 12-10. The Eagles then completed their comeback from 10 runs down when Steve Bradshaw hit a two-run home run to left center with two out in the seventh, tying the score at 12.
Griffin, in just his fourth at-bat as a Buckeye, hit a bases loaded single in the seventh to reclaim the lead for Ohio State, 13-12. It was the red-shirt freshman’s first collegiate hit. Cory Rupert followed with a sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 14-12.
“Chris was put into a tough situation and he came through with a big hit right after Eastern had tied the game,” Ohio State coach Bob Todd said. “That hit completely turned the tide of the game.”
Michael Arp added an RBI single in the eighth to increase the lead to 15-12. Wimmers then held the Eagles scoreless over the final two innings to preserve the victory and earn his third save.
