No. 9 Vanderbilt Scores Another Comeback Victory in Nashville

NASHVILLE – For the third time in as many games, No. 9 Vanderbilt wiped out a late deficit to score a 5-3 victory at Hawkins Field to secure a series sweep of Kentucky.

Vanderbilt has won six straight over the Wildcats in Nashville, 11 of 12 overall and the Cats have not won a series at Hawkins Field since 2008. UK finishes the regular season 29-23 overall, 13-17 in the Southeastern Conference and has 12 losses in conference play by a total of 17 runs.

Cleaver was dominant for five innings, striking out seven and allowing just one hit but the sharpness he displayed abandoned him in the sixth. Mike Mancini drew a leadoff walk, followed by a single on a hanging breaking ball and an HBP. After a RBI groundout Cleaver was on the verge of escaping before a two-out, two-run single by Colin Barczi tied the score.

The Cats took a lead for the 27^th time in 30 conference games when Hudson Brown hit a 423-foot home run that left the stadium. Tyler Bell added a 400-foot blast two batters later to nearly the same place in right-centerfield. In his next at bat Brown was robbed of a second bomb as Vanderbilt’s Jacob Humprey leapt and made the catch crashing into the fence.

NOTES

• Kentucky finishes the regular season 29-23 (13-17 SEC) on the season.
• UK has 15 losses this season by 1 or 2 runs.
• 12 of UK’s SEC losses have come by a total of 17 runs.
• UK held a lead in 27 of 30 SEC games.
• UK now is 10-13 vs. ranked teams and owns nine Quad 1 victories.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his ninth season at the helm and now owns a 291-189 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • UK is 52-53 in the month of May under Coach Mingione.
  • Mingione now is 7-18 vs. Vanderbilt
    • UK is 1-11 at Vanderbilt since 2018 and 4-20 since 2008.
  • INF Tyler Bell extended his reached base safely to 24 consecutive games.
    • He has reached in 51 of 52 career games.
    • He has a hit in 16 of the past 17 games.
    • He homered for the second straight game.
      • His 10^th home run puts him a tie for with Chris Gonzalez (1993) for the most by a freshman in UK history.
    • LHP Ben Cleaver delivered a quality start: 6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 8 K.

ON DECK

Kentucky has completed its regular season and will participate in the SEC Tournament this week in Hoover.