Bat Cats rally late for series-opening win at Georgia

Silenced by Georgia starting pitcher Jaden Woods for six innings on Friday, Kentucky rallied for seven runs in its final three trips to the plate on Friday to win the series opener in Athens, 7-4.

Kentucky (27-3, 9-1 SEC) had been no-hit into the sixth inning and watched as the Bulldogs posted four runs in the bottom of the inning to seemingly take command of the game.

But the No. 9 Wildcats responded with three runs in the seventh to draw close, one in the eighth to tie it up, and three more in the ninth to put the game away.

After Jackson Gray walked, Jase Felker singled, and Devin Burkes walked to load the bases with one out in the ninth, Emilien Pitre drew another walk to force home the winning run. It was also Pitre who delivered the go-ahead run for the Cats on Tuesday to help beat Dayton.

A sacrifice fly by Hunter Gilliam and an RBI single by Ryan Waldschmidt gave UK two insurace runs.

As it turned out, Mason Moore (2-0) did not need them, tossing his third consecutive three-up, three-down inning of relief to close out the win. The sophmore right-hander had six ground-outs and two strikeouts among the nine batters he faced in lowering his season ERA to 1.07.

Georgia (16-14, 1-9 SEC) did not have the same kind of performance from its bullpen in relief of the sensational Woods. The Bulldogs' pen allowed four runs on three hits and six walks in only 2.1 innings of work. Chandler Marsh (1-1) took the loss after walking three of the six men he faced.

Waldschmidt had three of Kentucky's eight hits on the day. Felker followed with two hits, and Reuben Church had a key two-run double to plate the Cats' first runs and cut Georgia's lead to 4-2 in the seventh.

Gilliam saw his 22-game hit streak end, just narrowly missing a grand slam in the ninth inning.

The Cats won for the 23rd time in their last 24 games.

The series resumes Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.