Cats win 14-13 in wild ninth inning

UK (9-1) was gift-wrapped a rally that allowed them to get a 14-13 walk-off win against Monmouth and walk out of the West Coast.

Trailing by one entering the final inning, the Cats had one of the strangest rallies imaginable.  The first batter, Neiko Johnson, ripped a home run that tied the game at 13-13.

And then Wildcats started getting hit by pitches as if they were magnetized.  One, two, three batters were hit to load the bases with no outs.  In stepped Braden Kapteyn, who promptly continued the streak by getting hit by a pitch, the tenth Cat to be beaned on the night (which tied an NCAA record).

But UK had earned the opportunity to make the rally earlier in the game when it scored seven unanswered runs from the seventh inning on.  This outburst included a bases-loaded single by sophomore outfielder Chad Wright in the bottom of the eight inning that plated two and brought UK within striking distance heading into the last frame.

The Cats had to climb out of a hole created when freshman pitcher Taylor Rogers was roughed up for 10 runs in 2.1 innings.

While the start of the game wasn’t pretty on the mound, the end was.  Junior Matt Little pitched the last four innings, allowing only two hits while striking out nine.  He now has a 0.82 ERA on the year.