Cats have no answer for Texas A&M's Prager in 5-1 loss at CWS
Kentucky's sixth day in Omaha, Neb., was "uncomfortable," thanks to the pitching of Texas A&M's Ryan Prager.
The Aggies' redshirt sophomore left-hander held the Wildcats hitless for 6 2/3 innings on Monday to put his team in the semifinals of the College World Series with a 5-1 victory.
"Give their starter credit," Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said. "Prager, what an outing. What a time to throw a game like that. Give him lot of credit. He kept us off-balance. It was the fastball, the breaking ball, the change-up. He just threw an absolute great game.
"Boy, he got our guys to take some uncomfortable swings."
It was a sensational outing for a pitcher who sat out last season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery. The effort was magnified by doing it against one of the nation's top scoring clubs on the biggest stage.
"Kentucky's a really good offensive team," Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said of Prager's performance. "... But he had all three pitches going and he filled up the strike zone enough where I think Kentucky started swinging more and got him some early outs in some situations where he could pitch deeper into the game."
For five innings, Prager (9-1) was locked in a pitchers' duel with UK starter Mason Moore, who was nearly as good until running into trouble in the top of the sixth inning.
A lead-off walk drawn by Jace LaViolette opened the door to the decisive inning. Jackson Appel followed with a double down the right field line, and Hayden Schott plated the game's first two runs with a single to left.
Another walk issued by a seemingly rattled Moore (9-4) forced UK to go to the bullpen. Cameron O'Brien retired the first batter he faced but gave up an RBI double to Ali Camarillo and a two-run single to Kaeden Kent to break the game open at 5-0.
The Cats had some traffic on the basepaths in the late innings but could not come up with timely hits. They stranded two runners in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.
"We had some opportunities and did not cash in," Mingione said. "And, as you know, in a game like this, all those opportunities matter. The big inning (sixth) is just about maybe the biggest factor in whether you win or lose a game in college baseball. They were able to get one and we weren't, and that was the difference in the game."
Kentucky did not get on the scoreboard until Ryan Nicholson launched his 23rd home run of the season, a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth inning that tied the program record for most long balls in a season.
The Cats (46-15) return to the diamond at Charles Schwab Field on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET in an elimination game against Florida. The Gators stayed alive Monday afternoon with a 5-4 win over NC State.
UK took two out of three games from Florida this season in Gainesville and will attempt to put Monday's loss behind them as quickly as possible.
"If we got down on ourselves, we wouldn't be in this spot where we are today," UK centerfielder Nolan McCarthy said. "There's going to be no sour faces in the locker room tomorrow. We're going to come out ready to go. Back's against the wall, but it's the same baseball game."
Kentucky has excelled at avoiding back-to-back losses this season. The Cats lost consecutive games on only three occasions.
Texas A&M (51-13) will await the winner of the UK-Florida matchup on Wednesday and again on Thursday, if necessary. To win Bracket 2 and advance to the Best-of-3 CWS championship series, either the Cats or Gators will have to win their next three games.
"We just reminded the guys that, in the last five years, no team has swept through the College World Series. The last five national champions all lost at least one game," Mingione said of his message to the team. "... If that's what it takes, you gotta do it."
