Breydon Daniel became the second player to hit two home runs in a game at Kentucky Proud Park but it wasn’t enough as Kentucky fell to No. 4 Georgia, 7-3, in Thursday night’s series opener.
Daniel, a junior infielder/outfielder from Bixby, Oklahoma, took Georgia starter Emerson Hancock out to left field both times, each an opposite-field blast for the switch-hitter. Hancock, one of the nation’s top arms who entered the game with a 0.69 earned run average, had allowed only a single home run all season and not given up more than one run in any of his six outings.
Daniel’s first blast traveled 376 feet and landed on the left field concourse, while the second came to rest in the UK bullpen 354 feet away. He now has six home runs on the season and eight multi-hit games.
The Cats (15-11, 0-7 SEC) were undone by a four-run Georgia fourth inning where the Bulldogs (22-4, 6-1) benefitted from several defensive miscues. An error and bobble on a potential double play, coupled with three base hits that were just out of the reach of UK defenders fueled the game-deciding frame.
UK starter Jimmy Ramsey gave up seven hits and seven runs – only three earned – in 4.2 innings and the bullpen pitched 4.1 shutout innings with just a single hit. Ace left-hander Zack Thompson will start on Friday night in game two of the series.
SCORING
Top 2nd – John Cable homered to RF. Georgia 1, UK 0.Bottom 3rd – Breydon Daniel homered to LF. UK 1, Georgia 1.
Top 4th – John Cable doubled to LF, LJ Talley advanced to third, Aaron Schunk scored. Connor Tate singled to RF, John Cable advanced to third, LJ Talley scored. Chaney Rogers reached on a fielder’s choice, John Cable scored. Shane Marshall tripled to LCF, Chaney Rogers scored. Georgia 5, UK 1.
Top 5th – LJ Talley reached on an error, Aaron Schunk advanced to third, Riley King scored. Connor Tate retired on a sacrifice fly to LF, Aaron Schunk scored. Georgia 7, UK 1.Bottom 5th – Breydon Daniel homered to LF. Georgia 7, UK 2.Bottom 7th – Coltyn Kessler grounded out to first, Breydon Daniel advanced to second, Zeke Lewis scored. Georgia 7, UK 3.
NOTES
· Kentucky has scored in 90 consecutive games and 166 of the past 167 dating to the 2016 season. The lone shutout came in a seven-inning game. The current streak now is the the fifth-longest in school history.
· UK now is 12-5 at Kentucky Proud Park.
· Junior IF/OF Breydon Daniel went 2-for-4 with a pair of solo home runs.
o Daniel is the second Wildcat to have a multi-homer game in Kentucky Proud Park. Ryan Shinn hit two against Texas A&M on March 22.
o Both of Daniel’s home runs went to the opposite field.
· Freshman IF Austin Schultz extended his reached base safely streak to 16 games.
· Junior 1B/DH T.J. Collett saw his reached base streak end at 15 straight games.
ON DECK
The Cats and Bulldogs are set for a 6:30 p.m. ET start Friday night in the middle game of the three-game series. Live coverage can be found on the SEC Network Plus. Audio coverage can be found via UKathletics.com.
Follow along with the Cats on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
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For more information contact:
Matt May