LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ryan Missal and
Dylan Nevar each hit grand slams on Saturday, but Kentucky rallied to top Western Michigan, 13-12, in 12 innings in a five-hour marathon at Kentucky Proud Park.
FINAL SCORE: Kentucky 13, Western Michigan 12 (F/12)
LOCATION: Kentucky Proud Park (Lexington, Ky.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (1-4) | Kentucky (6-0)
W: Austin Strickland (2-0)
| L: Hayden Berg (0-1)
Gavin Doyle equaled his career high with three hits and reached a total of four times for Western Michigan, while Nevar had a pair of knocks for the first multi-hit game of his collegiate career. Missal's grand slam gave him home runs in consecutive games, while Nevar's was his first long ball as a collegian.
In his second straight no-decision, Dane Armsbrustmacher allowed three earned runs over five innings and struck out four.
Down 3-0, the Broncos loaded the bases in the third inning.
Connor Charping got WMU on the board, racing home on a passed ball.
Cade Sullivan was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases for Missal, who hit a grand slam to put Western Michigan on top, 5-3. After a
Josh Swinehart double,
Brendan Harrity singled him home to cap the six-run Western Michigan outburst.
Swinehart drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to extend the Bronco edge to 7-3. UK responded with a run in the fifth to cut WMU's advantage back to three.
Swinehart drew another bases-loaded free pass in the sixth, and one out later, Nevar blasted his grand slam to put Western Michigan ahead, 12-4.
The Wildcats tallied two in the seventh and five in the eighth, trimming WMU's edge to 12-11, heading into the ninth inning.
Western Michigan retired the first two Kentucky batters in the bottom of the ninth. A single kept things going for UK, and a WMU error then allowed the Wildcats to even the score and send the game into extra innings.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the 12th, when a leadoff walk came around to score the winning run for UK after a single and an error.
Western Michigan and Kentucky wrap up their three-game weekend set on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is slated for 1 pm on
SEC+.
