The (3-28) Western Carolina Catamounts almost pulled off the upset against the eighth ranked team in the nation, the (23-10) Kentucky Wildcats, on Wednesday night’s game at Childress Field in Cullowhee.
The Catamounts had a tough battle coming into Wednesday night’s game. The Wildcats jumped out to an early 4–run lead thanks to senior catcher/first baseman, Troy Squires, hitting a single out the left field allowing two runners to come in for two runs to end the top of the third inning. Junior infielder, Alex Rodriguez, joined in on the action claiming two RBIs to close out the top of the fourth inning.
Catamount freshman Will Prater at bat. Photo taken by Tyler Tarbet.
However, the Catamounts weren’t going down that easy as senior infielder/outfielder, Caleb Robinson, stepped up to the plate nailing a ball deep right field bringing in two Catamounts to bring the score within two runs. This started a run that would tie up the Wildcats in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to Robinson hitting a home run.
This was followed by freshman infielder, Will Prater, hitting a line drive bringing in another Catamount for the score tying the game up 5-5 going into the top of the seventh inning.
In the seventh inning, the dream of beating a top-10 team came to a halt as Wildcat senior infielder, Luke Becker drilled a home run on his first at bat for the game followed by junior outfielder, Ryan Johnson, bringing in another Wildcat score making the game 7-5.
Both the Catamounts and Wildcats failed to score in the remaining innings of the game as the Wildcats narrowly avoided the upset and pulled out on top 7-5.
“Well a loss is a loss, and they never feel good, but we definitely came together as a team and competed and showed that we aren’t done,” said Cats’ senior infielder Cameron Blaquiere on almost pulling off the upset.
A lot of fans came out to see their Catamounts take on one of the best teams in college baseball right now. The crowd was packed into Childress Field as many watched and hoped for a Catamount victory.
“I thought it was a fairly good game considering there was some pretty bad calls from behind the plate. Western played really well considering Kentucky is ranked eighth,” said WCU sophomore, Joe Coker.
The Catamounts will head to Lexington, Virginia to take on the (15-17) VMI Keydets in a three game series over the weekend beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 13. The Cats will look to bounce back after a tough loss and end their 10 game losing streak.
