Wildcats Throttle Alabama, Tide Drop First SEC Home Series
The No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats took down the No. 25 Alabama Crimson Tide by a final score of 9-5 in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, clinching the series win for Kentucky.
Alabama starter Luke Holman was credited with the loss, finishing with a final line of 3.0 IP, three hits, three ER, three walks, and two strikeouts. Kentucky reliever Austin Strickland was given the win, finishing with 3.0 IP, four hits, two ER, three walks, and two strikeouts.
The afternoon started slow for both sides, with Alabama having scored zero runs and Kentucky scoring two through three innings. Then, the Wildcats broke the game open with a two-run fourth inning, led by a two-RBI single from Nolan McCarthy.
However, Alabama quickly responded, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth to bring the game within a singular run.
With the crowd right back in it, Kentucky swiftly silenced the Alabama faithful, answering with a three-run inning of their own.
Kentucky wouldn't look back from there on out, denying any chance for Alabama to make a rally and come back.
Alabama manager Brad Bohannon opened his press conference by expressing his frustration and disappointment in his club's effort this afternoon.
"Really poor effort by our club today, just didn't play very well in every area of the game and Kentucky is a good team and we walked and hit them nine times and we didn't do a good job defending the running game, can't play a good team and give them that much. They're gonna take advantage of it, and to their credit, that's exactly what they did. We want different results tomorrow. But we got to play better," said Bohannon.
Nevertheless, Bohannon did reaffirm his belief in the club.
"I still really like our team," said Bohannon. "We've got a lot of good players. You know, we got to find on our team that that play down in Gainsville or are we the team that's played here the last few days? you've kind of seen two different teams so we got 25 league games left if we can compete and play the way that we play in Gainsville. So we're gonna have a great season, to play the next 25 like we played the last two weeks gonna be tough. So I like our team a lot of just have not played well the last few days and really, I would even say Tuesday but I really like our club, we have some really good players."
With the loss the Tide fall to 18-6 overall and 1-4 in league play, they will look to avoid a sweep tomorrow against Kentucky.
Listen to the Tide take on Kentucky tomorrow on Tide 100.9, watch on SEC+, or follow along on the Tide 100.9 Twitter.