Kentucky scored seven of its 10 runs in the first three innings, and the Morehead State baseball team fought back but could not fully recover in a 10-5 setback to the Wildcats at Cliff Hagan Stadium Tuesday night.
UK moved to 15-5 in 2016, while MSU fell to 12-8. The Wildcats scored four times off six singles in the first inning and led 7-1 after three frames.
"It's tough to come back when you're down that much that fast," said Head Coach Mike McGuire. "I thought we did some good things offensively, and we really didn't pitch as poorly as the score indicated."
MSU senior righthander Matt Ellenbest got his first career start after missing 2015 recovering from injury. Kentucky chased him after one frame, though, as he fell to 0-1 this season. A bright spot was junior righthander Seth Boyle, who struck out four in the middle innings in relief.
The Eagles got solo runs in the second and fifth innings and then cut their deficit in half (from 8-2 to 8-5) with a three-spot in the seventh. Junior third baseman Alex Stephens, who was 3-for-5, had an RBI single in that frame.
Freshman catcher Hunter Fain tallied an RBI single in the second, and junior centerfielder Ryan Kent finished the night 2-for-4 with a double. MSU had 10 hits off six Wildcat hurlers.
UK designated hitter Gunnar McNeill was 3-for-4, one of five home team batters to produce multiple-hit efforts.
Morehead State hosts Belmont for a three-game OVC series this weekend. Game one is slated for 4 p.m. ET Thursday.
