Indiana State went 138 games without being shut out before going scoreless against Kentucky

Kentucky shut out Indiana State in Sunday’s NCAA Regional with excellent pitching and defense. Mason Moore, the starter, was outstanding on the mound, throwing six scoreless innings before Cameron O’Brien struck out five of nine batters to protect the win. The middle of the infield made critical stops, too. For instance, Grant Smith and Émilien Pitre turning this first-inning double play:

GRANT SMITH YOU WIZARD 😱

💻https://t.co/nKaZbu0Pm8 (@ESPNPlus)#WeAreUK x #RoadToOmaha | @grantsmithnm pic.twitter.com/pL4f49Orw1

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) June 2, 2024

In the end, the Sycamores went scoreless against the Wildcats, losing 5-0 to Kentucky, with only five hits in the game.

Statistician and friend of the program Corey Price did some digging and found that Indiana State had a streak of 138 consecutive games without being shut out until Kentucky skunked them in Lexington to win the NCAA Regional. Earlier on Sunday, Indiana State scored 13 runs on 12 hits to beat Illinois, so their bats had been hot.

Indiana State had a streak of 138 consecutive games played without being shut out

— Corey Price (@coreyp08) June 3, 2024

Nick Mingione opened his postgame press conference by praising UK’s opponent and its head coach, Mitch Hannahs. “What an amazing team,” Mingione said as he opened his comments with congratulations to his opponent on their season. “What they’ve been able to accomplish the last two years. And I told Mitch this. He’s as good a coach as anybody we’ve coached against this year.
What he’s done with this team, with his program, what he’s gotten out of his players, that’s a really good team.”

Later in the discussion, Mingione was asked about Corey Price’s tweet and Indiana State’s 138-game streak that was snapped by Kentucky’s pitching and defense. To that, Mingione replied, “I say all the time that we’re just a bunch of dogs. That’s what they are. They are a bunch of dogs. And they wanted to win. Pitching, defense, the only way you’re going to do that is you have to make plays because they put balls in play and they’re going to hit balls hard. They’re going to make plays.

“I mean, look at what they did in the first game,” he added. “They’re an amazing team. That’s why I started out this press conference about them because they’re an amazing team. What we just did to a team like that, that is not easy.”

Mingione ended the press conference by saying, “But I will tell you this: I believe that our team is filled with a bunch of dogs. Thank you so much for being here. Go Cats.”