Kentucky Survives to Play Another Day Behind Ethan Walker Relief Gem

Photo Courtesy of Kentucky Athletics

CLEMSON– Kentucky survived their elimination affair with USC Upstate in the Clemson Regional on Saturday afternoon with a 7-3 win over the Spartans. After blowing a three run lead for the second straight day in the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats responded behind Ethan Walker’s dominant relief outing and will live to play another day. USC Upstate was competitive in both games of this regional, but ultimately couldn’t take advantage of opportunities as they lost both games by a score of 7-3.

When you go back and you look at all the stats and the numbers about how many close games we've played in, this one was no different,” said Kentucky head coach Eric Mingione post-game. “There's six major components to offense and we hit on all six components today. We did it with two-strike hitting. We did it with bunting. We did it with home runs. We did it with stolen bases. We did it with our base running. It was a little bit of everything.” 

After a 1-2-3 inning from pitcher Nic McCay in the top of the 1st, Kentucky wasted no time drawing first blood in the bottom half. Despite grounding into a double play two batters into the game, the Wildcats rallied behind a Cole Hage hit by pinch. James McCoy singled to center and center fielder Carson Hansen tattooed a no doubt home run to left to make it 3-0 early. It was an encouraging first inning from Kentucky after their disappointing loss to West Virginia last night.  

Kentucky had a chance to extend their lead in the 3rd inning after Hage drew a one out walk before seemingly being picked off at first base. He broke for second as Torres made the move to first and made it safely after Upstate’s Jake Armsey bobbled the ball. McCoy lined a ball sharply to left, but Hage stopped at third instead of attempting to score. As the throw came into the infield, McCoy tried to advance to second. Spartan third baseman Alex Ritzer pump-faked a throw there, before tossing a dart a few feet to his left at third base. Hage, who had drifted away from the base thinking that the cut-off man was throwing to second, made a desperate attempt to get back but was tagged out.   

That play proved to be a major turning point in the game as the Wildcats now had just one runner on and two outs instead of runners on the corners with one out. Carson Hansen weakly grounded out to second base to end the inning. Upstate players jogged off the field with enthusiasm as the momentum of the game started to shift.

Upstate loaded the bases after a Johnny Sweeney walk following a lead off double by  shortstop Vance Sheahan doubled and a single by Scott Campbell. McCay was able to strike out the dangerous Scott Newman, but junior catcher Preston Lucas lined a double to left center to drive in two runs. The Spartans tied the game up in the next at-bat as Gage Griggs drove a sacrifice fly to center field. All told, Upstate sent eight batters to the plate in the 4th inning to shift the momentum even more in their favor.

Reliever Ethan Walker stifled that momentum with a big-time performance out of the bullpen and Kentucky was able to regain the lead in the 6th on a safety squeeze bunt by Patrick Herrera. The Wildcats broke it open with three insurance runs in the 8th and Walker shut the door in the 9th to keep the season alive.

“All he wanted to do in his message to the coaching staff was like, ‘Coach, I'll do whatever the team needs and whatever it takes to win.’,” Mingione said of Walker.  “And when your heart is in that right spot, one of my favorite Bible verses is ‘guard your heart because everything you do flows from it.’ I can tell you right now that guy's heart was right.”

Walker entered the game and allowed just a single hit over the final five innings. He dazzled and dominated the USC-Upstate bats, not allowing a runner to reach second base until the penultimate at-bat of the game. He hit two batters but didn't walk any while striking seven. He threw 44 of his 62 (71%) pitches for strikes.

“When you stand up go, wow, ‘Kentucky had their back against the wall. This is it. Like the season could be over’,” Mingione explained. “I had the utmost confidence to put him in the game and I didn't care if the game was tied or we were down or up, Ethan Walker was pitching. For him to be able to do this at that moment, none of us are surprised because of his heart.”

Walker saved Kentucky’s season today and the Wildcats will get a chance to play again tomorrow against the loser of tonight’s Clemson vs West Virginia matchup.