A costly misplay ultimately resulted in Kentucky baseball (18-13, 5-8 SEC) falling 6-3 to No. 2 Texas (28-4, 12-1 SEC).

The Bat Cats continue to be on the wrong side of the slim margin of victory in SEC baseball.

After taking a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth, back-to-back singles and an error gave the Longhorns two runners in scoring position.

The lead in game one continued a streak for the Wildcats as they have led at some point in every single SEC game this season.

“Our team has to learn how to finish,” Head Coach Nick Mingione said. “We haven’t closed out enough games, really it’s been a little bit of everything, you can’t just point your finger on one thing. We have found multiple ways to allow our opponents back in the game, at some point we have to put our foot down and say no more.”

Ethan Mendoza blooped a single into right, but the ball kicked away from Shaun Montoya, which allowed both runners to score and Texas to take a 4-2 lead that was the difference in the game.

The early innings were a pitchers’ duel between the two starters, Nate Harris and Jared Spencer.

Harris continued to settle into his new role as a weekend starter after a strong outing against Ole Miss and he began his outing with a scoreless first after working around a single.

The former midweek starter gave up a leadoff double to open the second before getting two quick outs. Harris made things a bit harder on himself with a walk. However, he struck out the next batter to escape the jam.

The right-hander was not so lucky in the third as a double and single opened the scoring and gave Texas a 1-0 lead.

Harris tossed a three-up, three-down fifth in what turned out to be his final inning of work.

Overall, the freshman gave up one run in five innings of work while striking out four and walking two.

“We’ve gotten plenty out of him, his poise, his composure, he was on the attack,” Mingione said. “He showed us the roadmap and proud of him, he is special, and our team knows that they love playing behind him.”

The Bat Cats had no answer for Spencer through four, but Luke Lawrence led off the fifth with a bunt single. After a pop out, Patrick Herrera was hit by a pitch. After a strikeout, Hudson Brown roped a single into left to bring home Lawrence and tie the game 1-1.

Montoya broke the newfound tie in the sixth as he hit a rocket home run into the visitor’s bullpen in right field that gave Kentucky a 2-1 lead before the costly mishap in the bottom half.

Scott Rouse took over for Harris and retired the Longhorns six-up, six-down in the sixth and seventh innings.

After the Montoya mishap, Rouse gave up a single to score another run that increased the Texas lead to 4-2.

Rouse stayed on in the eighth and pitched himself into a jam as two walks along with a double loaded the bases. Mendoza hit a rocket single up the middle to bring home two more runs.

The Bat Cats were quiet after giving up the lead in the seventh. However, Dyan Koontz brought home Lawrence on a groundout in a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth to bring the score to the decisive 6-3 total.

The Wildcats have now dropped four straight games and three straight conference contests.

“We have to build off the roadmap our pitches showed how to attack,” Mingione said. “We have got to finish our at-bats, we got to finish making plays and we got to finish innings.”

Kentucky will look to even the series in game two against Texas on Saturday, April 12, with first pitch set for noon ET.