@CoachRyanKY
LEXINGTON- The Kentucky Wildcats baseball team is one win away from the College World Series after last nights shutout 10-0 victory over Oregon State.
7,441 loyal members of the Big Blue Nation packed Kentucky Proud Park, setting yet another record in a year that has seen attendance history rewritten. All the way around the diamond, crowds were three-to-four people deep trying to catch a glimpse of the team that has captured the hearts of a fanbase yearning for something to cheer about.
Trey Pooser would get the start for Kentucky and he threw an absolute masterclass of a game. “He is the best pitcher in the country that no one knows about”, Ryan Nicholson said in post game comments. Pooser was Kentucky’s Rembrandt, meticulously painting corners on three pitches in which he masterfully mixed into a one hitter before he was ultimately pulled in the 8th Inning. Jackson Nove would enter for Two Innnings of hitless relief work.
The real story of the game was the offensive firepower of Kentucky. The game sat at a respectable 3-0 score entering the 7th Inning and still felt as if anyone could emerge victorious. The Seventh Inning however was Kentucky’s dagger, scoring SEVEN runs before finally being retired to the dugout.
Ryan Nicholson led Kentucky going three-for-five from the dish with three RBI’s, the highlight being a “Big Blue Bomb” sailing over the Right Field fence which continues his postseason offensive tear. After the game he told reporters (regarding his post season success) ,” I think the focus really just goes to winning ballgames. I think especially in postseason, everything is magnified, adding pitch to pitch. You really just separate everything and you really just hone in on that one single pitch and you slow your breathing down, and it's a lot of self-talk. But it's all about just, okay -- I mean, I'm not trying to hit a home run in that situation whenever it went off the wall. Like there's a guy on third; with less than two I'm trying to get him in any way possible and get it done early. So that was really what I was trying to do there, and that's where the ball went. I was just happy to get the run in really.”
After the game, I asked Pooser if his strategy going in was to mix pitches as masterfully as he had or if he “got in the zone”. His response was, “Yeah, Coach Roszel called a great game, and he allows us to choose whatever we want to pitch. If we want to choose a different pitch we're allowed to, but I think he was calling a great game and switching it up just how we've been doing.”
One more historical tidbit? Kentucky won their first Super Regional game in Program History on Saturday Night. History can be rewritten again tonight, as the Bat Cats are one win away from Omaha and the College World Series. First Pitch will be at 9 pm, ET from Kentucky Proud Park “after dark”. Tickets are Sold Out, but the game will air on ESPN U.
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