UK baseball: Cats make statement in series opener against Florida

Tristan Pompey's two-out grand slam in the top of the 4th inning gave UK's offense the momentum it needed against Florida on Thursday night, crushing the Gators 12-4 at McKethan Stadium.

Trailing 3-0, Pompey came to the dish with two away and down in the count. He drove the ball over the right field fence to put the Wildcats ahead. They never looked back after that. UK cranked out 20 hits -- the second time it's done that in SEC play this season -- and got another good starting pitching effort from Sean Hjelle to beat Florida 12-4.

Hjelle wasn't great by any means as he threw 74 pitches combined in the first two innings. But he settled down and worked into the sixth inning before giving way to freshman Zack Thompson. Thompson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the 6th inning with UK leading 7-3.

The Wildcats hurt Florida starter Alex Faedo unlike any other team has in his career. Faedo, a projected top 10 pick in next month's MLB draft, allowed a career-high 13 hits and seven runs to UK in 5.1 innings.

The damage came up-and-down the lineup. Evan White, Riley Mahan, Marcus Carson and Kole Cottam each had three hits. Mahan hit his team-leading 14th home run of the season.

The win puts UK, LSU and Florida all in a tie for first place in the conference. The Wildcats will split the SEC East with one more win in the series and could win the conference outright with a sweep and at least one LSU loss.

Zach Logue (6-4, 4.50 ERA) will pitch for UK on Friday against Florida’s Brady Singer (6-3, 2.58 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.