April 19, 2024

Record Crowd Helps Will No. 3 Kentucky to Victory Over No. 2 Tennessee ... Wildcats rally in the 7th inning to knock off the Volunteers 5-3 in front of 6,922 fans

By Matt May

Kentucky Athletics

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Emilien Pitre delivered the game-winning hit and Johnny Hummel sent the school-record crowd of 6,922 at Kentucky Proud Park into delirium with his fifth save as No. 3 Kentucky used a three-run seventh inning to rally past No. 2 Tennessee 5-3 on Friday night.

The Wildcats now are 32-5 overall and an astounding 15-1 in Southeastern Conference play, opening a five-game lead in the division with 14 to play.

Trailing 3-1 and looking to break the dam after several scoring chances went unclaimed, UK finally got to AJ Causey in the seventh. After hitting Ryan Nicholson to open the inning, Nolan McCarthy lined a single to left and Devin Burkes walked to load the bases. Ryan Waldschmidt hit an RBI grounder to pull the Cats to within one before Tennessee went to triple digit-throwing reliever Nate Snead. Pitre laced a ball that handcuffed the third baseman and skipped into left, scoring two to give UK a 4-3 lead.

Pitre (Repentigny Que.) is now hitting .308 with 13 doubles, a triple, five home runs and 37 RBIs. He is 19-for-24 stealing bases and has a .929 OPS in 37 games.

An inning later, McCarthy tomahawked a fastball into the bullpen to make it 5-3. From there, Hummel closed the door with relative ease for his fifth save.