No. 15 Kentucky Hosts EKU at John Cropp Stadium on Wednesday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a historic sweep of the No. 8 LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge, La., over the weekend, the No. 15 Kentucky softball team will look to take that momentum into a midweek game with the Eastern Kentucky Colonels on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. ET inside John Cropp Stadium in Lexington.
UK capped off a sweep of No. 8 LSU on Monday night in front of a national television audience, as Senior CLASS Award finalist Kelsey Nunley pitched her second shutout of the series to give Kentucky a 2-0 win over the Tigers in game three. On Sunday in game two, junior Meagan Prince was sensational, striking out five batters in a 3-0 Kentucky win as Prince pitched a complete game shutout of LSU – one of the best hitting teams in the nation, as they entered the weekend No. 9 nationally in total offense.
The series win marked numerous firsts for the UK program, including its first series win over LSU in Baton Rouge, the first time UK has ever had back-to-back shutouts against a ranked team, and the first time Kentucky has ever shut out a Southeastern Conference opponent in every game of a three-game series.
UK enters Wednesday’s midweek game at 34-8 overall in 2016 and 11-4 in SEC play, sitting just one game out of first place in the league behind the first-place Auburn Tigers and Florida Gators – who both have three losses in league play.
Sylver Samuel leads the Kentucky offense with a .381 batting average, including a team-best .500 on the weekend at LSU. The Simpsonville, S.C., native had the game-winning hit in the top of the seventh inning on Saturday and the game-winning run scored on Sunday to clinch the three-game set. Samuel is one of six Kentucky players batting over .300 this season, including fellow seniors Christian Stokes and Nikki Sagermann.
Eastern Kentucky enters the in-state showdown on Wednesday with an impressive start to the season at 28-8 overall and 12-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Colonels sit second in the OVC with just two losses and are two games behind undefeated Jacksonville State in the conference standings. Hayley Flynn leads EKU in the circle with a 1.78 ERA and an 18-3 record this season in her 29 appearances. Alex Sallberg is the second-leading pitcher for EKU, sporting a 2.02 ERA and an 8-4 record. Together, Flynn and Sallberg have 26 of EKU’s 28 wins.
Offensively for Eastern Kentucky, Paige Murphy leads the way for the Colonels, hitting .410 on the year – the only player hitting above the .400 mark on the team. She has 43 hits and a team-leading 32 runs scored on the season with six doubles, a homer and 11 RBI. Nine Colonel batters have scored 10+ runs this season. Eastern Kentucky has a top-100 RPI this season, slotting in at No. 85 nationally in this week’s release.
Gameday Information
John Cropp Stadium Gameday Webpage
Parking
Free game day parking is available the upper and lower paved parking lots adjacent to John Cropp Stadium. In the event that those lots fill spectators will be directed to park in the grass lot near College Way and Wildcat Court.
Tickets
Tickets for Softball are sold through the UK Ticket Office. For information about hosting Birthday Parties at John Cropp Stadium please contact (859) 257.1818. The Ticket Office and stadium gates will open one hour prior to first pitch.
Seating
All seating in John Cropp Stadium is general admission and is first-come, first served.
Facility Address
John Cropp Stadium
570 Wildcat Court
Lexington, KY 40506
WatchESPN
Due to the Kentucky baseball game vs. Louisville – there will be no television or video stream of the game on Wednesday. Fans can follow along with live stats on UKathletics.com, or by following @UKSoftball on Twitter.
For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.