Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
David Mulloy, the KSRCollege baseball beat writer has a few parting thoughts from last night’s historic game and a preview of the Cat’s matchup against Valparaiso.
Even the gametracker couldn't handle 21 innings
Closing the book on last night.
Ten hours and twenty-three minutes ago, the UK baseball team suffered the most grueling loss in the history of the program. Seven hours from now, they will face Valparaiso in an effort to extend their season by one more day.
I don’t know how to put last night’s game into words. How do you sum up a game that lasted six hours and thirty seven minutes and was the equivalent of two and one-third regulation contests? The longest game ever played by an SEC team and the second longest in NCAA Tournament history? A game that featured a combined 680 pitches, 47 strikeouts, 38 players, and 43 runners left on base? Unfortunately, as has been the case over the last six weeks of the season, the Cats could not get a timely hit with runners in scoring position and it cost them dearly.
Like the rest of you, I could not watch the game but rather lived and died with every pitch and on the word of Neal Price and quite frankly, I don’t know if I wanted to see the team that I have covered for the last four months after the game. All you need to know is that the team was delayed from returning to the hotel because of problems with an NCAA mandated drug test. Why? Most of them did not have enough fluid in their bodies complete the test. The temperature was in the 50′s, they simply played that hard and left everything on the field.
UK’s Cat Scratches blog has miraculously found some video of last night’s game. It’s worth a look.
Injuries
The injury bug has not hit the Wildcats very hard this season but two starters, Luke Maile and Lucas Witt left the game with pulled hamstrings and Coach Gary Henderson said after the game that both players are “unlikely” to play today. In addition to those two, I would be shocked if A.J. Reed were to make an appearance, save for a pinch hitting role. Not only did Reed play all twenty-one innings, he pitched nine of them, the most of any of the 10 pitchers who appeared in the game. Reed also would have been the winning run in the 18th inning but cramped up rounding third trying to score from first on Michael Williams’ double to center. He stayed in to pitch the last three innings of the game and unfortunately, ended up as the losing pitcher.
Valparaiso
The Crusaders, who are making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1968, lost to host Purdue last night, 7-2. Valpo took a brief lead before the Boilermakers took advantage of five Crusader errors. Out of the seven runs allowed by the Horizon League regular season and tournament champions, only one was earned.
Kentucky will send Saturday starter Jerad Grundy (5-3, 3.95 ERA) to the mound against the Crusaders. Grundy as has pitched very well as of late and worked six innings and allowed just one run on four hits in against Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament. I know it’s stating the obvious but the Cats will be looking for a very long outing from the southpaw. Alex Phillips, Trevor Gott, and obviously A.J. Reed are off the board, leaving Tim Peterson, Sam Mahar, and Chandler Shepherd would be on the shortlist to pitch in relief.
Once again the game will not be televised but Neal Price will have the radio call on 630 WLAP in Lexington, 1080 WKJK in Louisville and on UKathletics.com. John Wilmoff and I will be at the game providing updates here on KSR beginning at 4pm and on twitter @mulloyksr and @wilmhoffksr. If the Cats win, they will play Sunday aft 4pm against the loser of the Purdue-Kent State game at 8pm tonight.
See you all this afternoon. Go Cats.
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Bill Keightley Report : Never to be forgotten.
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June 2nd, 2012 at 9:15 am
Wow, UK baseball really laid an egg yesterday. Hope they don’t get bounced today or volleyball will overtake UK baseball for the 5th most watched (cared about) sport at UK.
June 2nd, 2012 at 9:20 am
KY played a gutsy game and I am proud of the way they left it all on the field! They lack the necessary skills that most baseball teams possess to advance runners on base. They cannot bunt the ball with any success and their coaches decisions to advance the base runners is questionable at best. This off season they need to work on these and other areas to make a real impact in the college world series! They have one last chance to redeem themselves! They have definitely over achieved this year!
June 2nd, 2012 at 9:30 am
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Man morning after dumps hurt the worst
I guess that 12 PAC n six chili cheese burritos were a bad idea
I hope Mary ho parinho doesn’t mind the smell
June 2nd, 2012 at 9:40 am
Guess the NCAA isn’t looking so bad now for not letting UK host a regional. So much for the Cats having a chip on their shoulders and having something to prove. Looks like they proved they could blow their first game to Kent State and are now looking at elimination with one more loss. Meanwhile, the number one overall seed Florida wins easily with a no hitter in their opening game. Go Gators!
June 2nd, 2012 at 9:46 am
Think Henderson needs to forfeit his COY award…what a joke!
June 2nd, 2012 at 9:50 am
“Most of them did not have enough fluid in their bodies to complete the test.”
My god, one full game of basketball or football is more taxing then 30 innings of baseball.
June 2nd, 2012 at 9:52 am
Did Joker coach the Batcats last night?
June 2nd, 2012 at 10:02 am
There is NO excuse for players (except pitcher and catcher) to be tired from playing 21 innings of baseball. Possibly they were so bored that they were sluggish and seemed tired. No excuse for being tired from BASEBALL…
June 2nd, 2012 at 10:46 am
Kent State was ranked 25th in the country. We’re not here to make any excuses, but it certainly was no joke to lose to them. And as far as the comments about fluids, any of you guys pitched 9 innings in a college game before as AJ Reed did? Any athlete would be physically drained from that unless they just weren’t throwing very hard.
June 2nd, 2012 at 10:48 am
#8, nevermind. I see you acknowledged it would be tough for a pitcher or catcher, but those may have been the two guys who struggled trying to pee, lol
June 2nd, 2012 at 10:59 am
Baseball is a boring game of luck. I rather watch hockey
June 2nd, 2012 at 11:06 am
7: You might be right. We haven’t heard much from CJP since Spring practice ended. Which, coincidently, has been the worst part of the baseball season. Umm .
June 2nd, 2012 at 11:20 am
UK baseball is a joke. Its been a joke for years. How do you lose to Kent State? That shows right there they didnt deserve to host a regional. They are a bunch of choke artists, I mean how do you ground into a double play with the bases loaded, what an amatuer. Same story every year with UK baseball. Its a joke.
June 2nd, 2012 at 11:26 am
I 100% agree with the “The Main Man” post. I cant follow UK baseball any more they always let me down and leave me heart broken.