Kentucky drops game three, wins SEC road series

Alabama wins one run game over the Wildcats

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – (UK Athletics) – No. 22 Kentucky was on the wrong side of a sequence of flukish plays, as No. 25 Alabama scored a pair of runs in the eighth inning for its first lead in the series and a 4-3 victory on Sunday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

UK (21-3, 5-1 SEC) still claimed a road series win against a ranked team for the first time since knocking off Ole Miss in Oxford in 2019. Its 17-game win streak was the fourth-longest in school history.

The Cats opened the scoring in the first and later saw Grant Smith break a 2-2 tie with his first home run in a UK uniform, a shot to straightaway center.  Alabama finally took it first lead of the series in the eighth inning when it led off with a walk and then saw a double put runners on second and third. A groundball to first saw the runner at third hung up but first baseman Hunter Gilliam lost his footing and it allowed the runner to get his foot under the tag by an inch or two. Replay upheld the call.

A play later, a line single to left brought home the tiebreaking run and gave Alabama a chance the salvage the final game of the series.

Kentucky remains road warriors on Tuesday at Western Kentucky. First pitch is 6 p.m. ET. The radio call will be on the UK Sports Network (630 AM WLAP, locally).

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