The UK baseball team took care of Missouri over the weekend to expand their lead in the SEC East to 2 full games over Florida and South Carolina.
The Wildcats defeated Missouri 5-2 on Friday, lost 9-8 on Saturday and won 6-1 on Sunday to capture the weekend series.
Here’s a look at the updated SEC East standings:
Updated SEC East baseball standings after Kentucky's series win over Missouri in Columbia, Mo. pic.twitter.com/xrKLI78vMx
— Justin Rowland (@RowlandRIVALS) April 17, 2017
OVERALL RECORD: 25-12 (10-5 SEC)
WEEK RECORD: 3-1
LAST WEEK
April 12 – vs. UT Martin, Win 8-0
April 14 – at Missouri, Win 5-2
April 15 – at Missouri, Lost 9-8
April 16 – at Missouri, Won 6-1
THIS WEEK (4 home games)
April 18 – vs. No. 2 Louisville (7 p.m., Cliff Hagan Stadium, Lexington, Ky., SEC Network)
April 21 – vs. No. 9 LSU (6:30 p.m., Cliff Hagan Stadium, Lexington, Ky., SEC+)
April 22 – vs. No. 9 LSU (6:30 p.m., Cliff Hagan Stadium, Lexington, Ky., SEC+)
April 23 – vs. No. 9 LSU (1 p.m., Cliff Hagan Stadium, Lexington, Ky., SEC+)
PITCHER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE
Sean Hjelle (So., RHP, White Bear Lake, Minn.)
1-0, 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K
· Sophomore RHP Sean Hjelle worked 7.0 innings, giving up five hits, no runs, one walk and striking out eight.
o Hjelle earned his fifth win of the season, besting the four he had as a reliever in 2016.
o Hjelle threw a career-high 121 pitches.
o Hjelle is 2-0 with a 0.41 ERA in three starts on the road in SEC. He’s allowed just one earned run in 22.1 innings.
o Hjelle retired the final eight hitters he faced in the game.
o Only two runners reached second base in the game, both in the fifth inning.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE
Tristan Pompey (SO., OF, Toronto, Ontario)
.563 (9-for-16), 3 runs, 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, HBP, 1.000 Slug%, .632 OBP
· In four games this week, Pompey hit .563 with a slugging percentage of 1.000 and on-base mark of .632.
· In the three-game series at Missouri, Pompey was 8-for-12 with a double, two home runs three runs, three RBI, two walks and a hit by pitch in the three-game series.
o He reached base in 11 of 15 plate appearances for the weekend.
· Pompey now has hit safely in 24 of his past 26 games.
· Pompey is 17-of-27 (.630) in his past seven games, raising his average from .304 to .371.
· Pompey now has 14 multi-hit games this season and 21 for his career.
· His leadoff home run on Saturday night – the first of two in the game – was the first for a UK player since Austin Cousino did so against Cincinnati on April 17, 2012.
TEAM NOTES
· Kentucky claimed its fourth SEC series win in the first five weeks by taking two of three at Missouri.
· Kentucky has won six of its seven weekend series this season.
· The Cats are now 16-2 at home this season.
· UK has won series this season vs. No. 23 UC Santa Barbara, at No. 13 Texas A&M, vs. No. 11 Ole Miss and vs. No. 22 Vanderbilt.
· UK has now stolen 45 bases on the season and allowed just nine steals (9-of-23).
