The No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats cruised to a victory on Friday night using the long ball to defeat the Auburn Tigers 9-1 in game two of the series at Plainsman Park.
The Wildcats recorded six home runs on 14 hits in a game where the Tigers didn’t put up as much of a fight offensively — recording just six hits in 29 plate appearances.
Auburn’s lone run of the game came in the sixth inning when Mason Maners scored on a sacrifice fly to center field from pinch-hitter Christian Hall.
“We had a chance where we worked hard and got some guys on base, but we just never blew that gap or left the yard like our opponents have been probably these last four games,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson.
The struggles continued for the Tigers pitching staff, notably the starters. Chase Allsup (1-3) recorded the loss giving up seven hits and three home runs in three innings of work. Allsup reached 72 pitches by the time his night was over, comparatively, Kentucky’s starter Dominic Niman didn’t reach that mark until his fifth inning of work.
“It was our third pitcher before we got somebody to settle the ballgame,” Thompson said.
After holding the Tigers scoreless in the first inning, the Wildcats got on the board in the second when Ryan Nicholson hit a solo-home run to center field.
Kentucky kept things going in the third with back-to-back home runs from Grant Smith and Ryan Waldschmidt to lead off the inning. With two outs, Nick Lopez doubled down the right field line and swapped places, a batter later, with Mitchell Daly who sent a screamer off the wall in center field, giving Kentucky a 4-0 lead.
It was much of the same in the fourth when Kentucky’s Nolan McCarthy led the inning off with a solo-home run to right field. Smith, who reached on a hit-by-pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch, from Auburn pitcher Parker Carlson, scored on a single to center field off the bat of Waldschmidt giving the Wildcats a 6-0 lead.
The fireworks didn’t stop there for the bats of Kentucky, though. Emilien Pitre led off the ninth with a solo-home run to right field. Nicholson put the nail in the coffin with a two-run shot, driving in Daly.
Carlson relieved Allsup in the fourth and gave up two runs on two hits in his only inning of work. Connor McBride entered in the fifth and held the Cat’s scoreless until the ninth inning solo-shot. Ben Schorr entered with two outs in the ninth and gave up a two-run home run to the first batter he saw.
“Felt like McBride did a nice job. So, on the mound that was our best effort. Gave us four scoreless there to have a chase to play offense at some point. But that was tough,” said Thompson.
With the loss, Auburn falls to 18-16 overall (2-12 SEC.) The Tigers have now dropped five straight conference series. Kentucky represents Auburn’s fifth consecutive top-10 opponent to start conference play - the first time an SEC program has played five straight top-10 teams within conference since Georgia in 2016.
The Tigers look to avoid the series sweep in game three on Saturday at 2 p.m. CST with television coverage available on the SEC Network+ and ESPN app.
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Logan Fowler is a junior from Sumiton, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He joined The Plainsman in Spring 2024.
