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Michael Earley, Nick Mingione get into shouting match by end of Kentucky vs. Texas A&M

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•03/30/25•

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Texas A&M baseball
Steven Branscombe | USA TODAY Sports

Kentucky vs. Texas A&M ended today at the conclusion of the eighth inning due to the curfew rule in the Southeastern Conference. The Aggies were not pleased with how that was handled, though, by the Wildcats.

With the clock reaching 4:30 p.m. central locally in College Station, Kentucky utilized mound visits by the catcher and the pitching coach in the eighth inning. That gamesmanship was not to the liking of the home team’s dugout with Michael Earley and Nick Mingione shouting at one another from opposite sides of the diamond. However, at the end of the inning and, therefore, the end of the game in a 10-5 win UK, the two had no other issue in their postgame handshake.

As for the actual game, Kentucky clinched the series at 2-1 following the five-run win on Sunday. UK took as much as a six-run lead with three runs in the second, from a single and a pair of sac-bunts, and four runs in the fifth, from being hit by pitch with loaded bases to go with a sac-fly and a two-run single. The Aggies did make a go at it with three runs at the bottom of the seventh from a two-run triple and a single but, after two more runs, including a home run, and then this ending in the eighth, the Wildcats closed it out.

Much of that credit was given to Ben Cleaver, a sophomore pitcher making his seventh start of this season for UK who is now 3-1. In just over five innings thrown, Cleaver had seven strikeouts while allowing just three hits and the two runs in that opening inning to A&M.

With this, Kentucky moved to 17-9 (4-5) overall ahead of next weekend’s conference series with Ole Miss. Texas A&M then fell to a losing record of 13-14 (1-8) overall with a midweek matchup against Incarnate Word before going to play a series against No. 1 Tennessee on Rocky Top.