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Some kind of stomach bug hit Kentucky junior pitcher Mason Moore Saturday and since he had “two bags of IVs’ in his arm he didn’t watch much of Kentucky’s win over Illinois in the NCAA Tournament Regional at Kentucky Proud Park.
“I was at the house resting up,” Moore said.
Whatever he did, it worked. Moore threw six shutout innings Sunday in a 5-0 win over Indiana State that put UK into this week’s super regional, something that has happened only two times before. However, this time UK will be hosting its first super regional with a chance to earn its first trip to the College World Series.
Moore has been a NCAA machine the last two years as he is unscored upon in 20 1/3 straight innings in tourney play.
“At 7:36 (p.m. Saturday) my phone goes off,” Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said. “It’s a text message from Mason. This is what he said: ‘Here we go! Just to update you, I’m feeling better and back to normal. I’m ready to throw and win us a ball game tomorrow, Coach.’
“Want to to know my reply? ‘Got it. Get some rest. I can’t wait to watch you,’ in all caps, ‘dominate tomorrow. Call me if you need anything.’ I went to bed knowing, it made me feel real good. I slept real good. “
Moore allowed only four hits and three walks in six innings while striking out six. He won his ninth game, the most in any season by a UK pitcher in the Mingione era.
Moore admitted there was a “little doubt” Saturday about whether he would be able to pick Sunday because of the way he felt.
‘The trainers did a really good job of getting me healthy. Like I said, I went home and just rested. The coaches, they made me leave,” Moore said. “I wanted to stay and watch the game but the trainers, they made me leave. I kinda knew this morning (Sunday) that I was able to go, even last night because I was feeling back to normal. So I give all the credit to the trainers and the staff; they got me right last night.”
He could tell during warmups Sunday night after a rain delay that he was “not feeling the greatest” as he was throwing.
“But like BBN showing out really, and family and friends coming out, really wanting me to perform good. I think that helps out with adrenaline because I wasn’t obviously at my best. I think with all that it helped me get through the game today,” he said.
So did his defense which made some spectacular plays that made it “easy to go out there and point the (strike) zone” and rely on the defense to get outs.
“I’m grateful that coach Ming and the staff have put their faith in me to go out there and win us a game,” Moore, a Rowan County product, said. “Being from the home state, I just want to go out there, give my best effort and give our team the best chance to win.”
Mingione remembers Moore sending him videos of his basketball athleticism.
“Sending us videos of him dunking, and me wondering, better show some videos of striking some dudes out,” Mingione laughed and said. “Just the commitment and the growth that he has shown and how much better he’s gotten. I mean, he has the clutch gene. You guys know that. And to have a guy from Kentucky do this two years in a row, two years in a row — to have somebody from his state school that bleeds blue. He and his family have been awesome.”
Mingione didn’t take Moore out late in the game when he walked two batters and Moore rewarded his coach by getting out of the inning thanks to a terrific defensive play by shortstop Grant Smith.
“He’s been there. And the thing about Mason is whenever somebody gets on, he’s just literally one pitch away from a double play. That’s what he does. He produces ground balls when he’s at his best,” the Kentucky coach said. “He produces weak contact. Those are a couple things he does. And this is a team with tremendous power. And the way we were going to win was by keeping the ball in the ballpark.
“I was thinking a lot like other people. I’m like, okay, he’s at 88 pitches. If he goes the next inning, we’re going to get him over a hundred. After everything he went through yesterday, all of that was going through my mind.
I look at him, he goes, he’s going back out there. He’s like, he’s got to give us another inning. And he was so confident. I’m, like, he’s going back out there. He needs to give us another inning. Sure enough, it was the right call.”
One Response
The defense behind him played nearly flawless with some great plays sprinkled In.