It still had all the makings of a pitcher’s duel when John McKee stepped to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning in last night’s NCAA Regional opener on Simmons Field.

G.J. McCarthy photo

John McKee (28) is greeted by teammates after his sixth-inning grand slam.

Sure, Kent State starter Chris Carpenter had misplaced his command, walking a pair of Missouri batters to open the inning. Ryan Lollis followed with a single to right that loaded the bases. But a ground ball double play or a strikeout and Carpenter might have settled right back into the groove he’d had the first five innings, when he surrendered only two runs on four hits.

Instead, he worked the count full to McKee, nearly hitting him with an inside fastball on a 3-1 count. The Tigers’ first baseman lifted his arms out of the way, thinking he’d drawn ball four and forced in a run, but home-plate umpire John Thomas called it a strike.

Good thing for McKee, because two pitches later, he blasted another fastball off the top of the scoreboard in left-center field for the decisive blow in a 10-2 rout.

"I’m sure it was 93-94 mile-per-hour pitch," Kent State Coach Scott Stricklin said. "He got the barrel to it, hit it well and that kind of took the wind out of our sails."

McKee had fouled off a similar pitch immediately before and was looking for redemption when he hit the first grand slam of his college career.

"I was pretty upset with myself because I pulled off," said McKee, who said he last hit a grand slam as an eighth-grader. "I had a lot of adrenaline running through my body and didn’t really harness it too well. But I calmed myself down, took a deep breath, got in the box and put a good swing on it."

The real turning point might have been the inside pitch McKee watched sail by. He could have taken it off his forearm, as he’s done numerous times.

When it comes to getting plunked, McKee is a specialist. He has reached base by bruise an unheard-of 60 times the past three seasons. He set a school record with 23 hit-by-pitches as a sophomore, led the team with 14 as a junior and has notched another 23 this season, one behind team leader and current record-holder Brock Bond.

While Missouri’s coaches love to see McKee reach base by any means necessary, they would prefer he not get hit in RBI situations.

"We talked to John. When he’s got run-scoring situations, when he’s got people in scoring position, we don’t want him to get hit," Missouri Coach Tim Jamieson said. "At that point in the game, we’re fine with it because there’s nobody out, but at the same time, he’s changed his approach a little bit in those types of situations. Bases loaded, give yourself a chance to swing the bat."

Last night, he gave himself a chance and made it count.

Advertisement