LEXINGTON, Ky. – Alabama baseball (15-6, 0-3 SEC) was unable to salvage the series finale at No. 21 Kentucky (18-2, 3-0 SEC), as the Crimson Tide’s late comeback bid was stymied by the Wildcats in Sunday’s 6-4 loss at Kentucky Proud Park.

Bryce Fowler led all Alabama players with two RBI as part of a 1-for-5 effort, as Fowler’s two-run single in the 7th helped the Tide get back into striking distance. Will Plattner was 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI, a walk and a run scored, as the Tide’s designated hitter drove in one of his side’s four runs in the 7th. Justin Lebron finished his day 1-for-5 with an RBI single, while John Lemm was 1-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch and a run scored. The Tide didn’t break into the hit column until the 7th, with Jason Torres leading off the inning with a double.

Making his fifth collegiate start, Myles Upchurch (3-2) battled his command throughout his outing. The freshman surrendered three hits, three runs and five walks to go with two strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Matthew Heiberger allowed two runs on three hits in his 2.0 innings, giving up two walks while adding two strikeouts. Hagan Banks retired the first five hitters he faced after entering in the 6th, though he was responsible for consecutive doubles in the 8th that led to a Kentucky run. The pair of doubles were the only two hits he surrendered to go with four strikeouts across 2.1 innings.

“At the end of the day I know the world we’re in and I know what’s going to happen. These guys are going to get on their phones as soon as we get into the locker room and people are going to talk about how bad they are and they are a disgrace to the game of baseball and everything but guess what? We didn’t play good enough. We deserve what we got this weekend. My message to them was, if you start believing it and start caring about what people on the outside think, it’s not going to go great. Play for the dude next to you, play for the guy next to you. They fought, I’ll give them that, but if you look back on the weekend, there wasn’t much we did well. We didn’t throw the baseball great, we didn’t defend the baseball well at all, we didn’t hit great with runners in scoring position. To me, we need to acknowledge where we fell short and not make any excuses out of it. We need to stick together and show up on Tuesday against a good South Alabama team and be ready to compete.”

How It Happened

• B2 | UK’s Hudson Brown lifted a one-out, solo homer to right to plate the first run of the afternoon. (1-0, Kentucky)
• B3 | The Wildcats added on to their lead after a leadoff single and a hit-by-pitch put the first two men on base. After a sacrifice bunt pushed both runners into scoring position, Tyler Bell lined a two-run single to right-center. (3-0, Kentucky)
• B5 | UK began its half of the 5th with a double and a single to drive in a run. Hudson Brown, who singled to score Bell, stole second and later jogged home after Ryan Schwartz singled to right with two outs. (5-0, Kentucky)
• T7 | Jason Torres provided the Tide’s first hit of the afternoon with a leadoff double before John Lemm was hit by a pitch. The next batter, Will Plattner laced a double down the left field line to drive in Torres. After the double, pinch-hitter Luke Vaughn drew a walk to load the bases. Following consecutive strikeouts, Bryce Fowler lined a two-run single to left before Justin Lebron drove in a run with a single to left of his own. (5-4, Kentucky)
• B8 | Consecutive one-out doubles tallied an additional run for the Wildcats. (6-4, Kentucky)

Postgame Notes

• Luke Vaughn elevated his team-high on-base streak to 16 games
• John Lemm’s hitting streak now sits at nine games while his on-base streak is now at 10 games
• Bryce Fowler extended his on-base streak to 15 games
• Brady Neal improved his on-base streak to 12 games
• Brennan Holt and Jason Torres have now both reached base in nine consecutive games
• Attendance: 3,046

 Up Next

• Alabama will remain on the road, traveling to Mobile to take on South Alabama on Tuesday, March 17
• First pitch between the Crimson Tide and Jaguars is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT, airing on ESPN+