CLERMONT, Fl. — Freshman infielder Erin Coffel tied two single game school records, launching two home runs and driving in six runs in an 11-1 win over New Mexico State, and junior outfielder Renee Abernathy walked off Kentucky with a two-RBI triple over Florida International 6-5 on day one of the 2021 Spring Games in Orlando.
Coffel hit two three-run home runs in the Wildcats’ 11-1 win over the Aggies on Friday afternoon, driving in six runs on those two long balls, trying the single-game school record in both instances. The freshman from Bremen, Indiana then launched her seventh homer of the season and third of the day in Kentucky’s 6-5 thrilling win over FIU. Coffel on the year is hitting a robust .467 with seven long balls and a team-leading 22 RBI. Erin Coffel is the second freshman in program history to have six RBI in a single game (Nikki Sagermann vs. Alabama, May 5, 2013). Overall on the day, Coffel went 3-for-8 with three home runs, eight RBI, 12 total bases and a .375 batting average.
Abernathy, who continues to have a break-out year, approached the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs and two on and Kentucky trailing, 6-5. Abernathy took a two-strike pitch and drove it all the way to the right-center wall and both Lauren Johnson and Jaci Babbs scored to win the game for Kentucky 6-5 thanks to Abernathy’s second triple of the season.
Before FIU held UK to six runs, Kentucky had scored at least 10 runs in a school-record six-consecutive games, eight out of ten games this season, and 16 of last 23 games dating back to last season.
Kentucky is now 11-0 on the season, continuing its best start in program history since 2014 and the Wildcats will have two more games on deck Saturday afternoon in Orlando. UK’s day starts an hour earlier at 11 a.m. ET with a morning showdown against Stetson before UK rematches New Mexico State at 4 p.m. ET. Both games are broadcasted live on FLOsoftball and live stats can be found on UKathletics.com.
