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After losing to Western Kentucky in the midweek, Kentucky baseball suffered a demoralizing doubleheader sweep to officially lose its series on the road against Mississippi State on Saturday.
The loss marked the fifth SEC series loss for the Bat Cats this season, with UK only taking three series in conference play thus far.
Adding insult to injury, Mississippi State is regarded as one of the worst teams in the SEC this season and fired its head coach, Chris Lemonis, before playing UK.
Things got off to a brutal start right away in game one of the doubleheader — Friday’s game was rescheduled for weather — as, after taking a 3-0 lead, Kentucky would utterly collapse on the mound, allowing four runs in the fourth inning and eight in the eighth to lose 14-4.
Both relievers, Nile Adcock and Tommy Skelding, were charged with four runs allowed each, while Hayden Smith added three, and Tristan Hunter added two.
The crushing blow in game one further damaged any momentum the Wildcats had built after beating Tennessee in Knoxville, getting revenge against Louisville and taking the series at home against South Carolina.
Heading into game two of the double header, UK’s best hope was to force a rubber match for Sunday, but an inability to capitalize on key opportunities ensured that the best it can do going forward is salvage one game.
Going down early, Kentucky was able to lock up the game in the fourth inning thanks to three runs batted in by Luke Lawrence, James McCoy and Ryan Schwartz. Tyler Bell had both of UK’s other two RBI in the third inning.
With things all tied up 5-5, nine innings just wouldn’t be enough as Bell would ground out with Devin Burkes on third with the potential go-ahead run.
It was ultimately not meant to be, however, as a quick double and single from the Bulldogs off Simon Gregersen would allow Mississippi State to walk it off in Starkville. Cole Hage would lose control of the ball in the field to allow the double.
With the loss, Kentucky ended its streak of splitting double headers this season, having split against Ole Miss and South Carolina previously.
The defeat also may have crushed UK’s chances of potentially hosting a Regional in the NCAA Tournament for the third season in a row, though that is to be seen.
Kentucky will not play a midweek game during the university’s finals week and will return to action on Friday, May 9, for game one against Oklahoma. The series against the Sooners is the final home conference series of the year for the Wildcats before they face Northern Kentucky and end the year with three games at Vanderbilt.
Game one against Oklahoma is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET from Kentucky Proud Park and will air live on the SEC Network+.
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