Kentucky Baseball LF Nolan McCarthy injured Friday

Redshirt junior left fielder Nolan McCarthy will likely miss some time after an injury suffered in Kentucky’s 7-4 win over Lipscomb on Friday.

“His knee is really bothering him so we’ll make sure the doctor takes a look at it,” head coach Nick Mingione said after the game. “If we have to, we’ll take an MRI just to check all of our boxes. But, he couldn’t go. Nolan’s tough, so if Nolan says ‘coach I gotta come out’, he’s feeling it pretty good.”

McCarthy’s injury occurred in the fourth inning, as he was tracking a Lipscomb home run ball. He kept going back until he ran out of room, hitting the wall at an awkward angle.

“He said, ‘coach, my foot got stuck under the wall and when I spun, my foot was stuck.’ He over-rotated on it. He was trying to make a play for his team,” Mingione said.

The redshirt junior, who was selected to the Lexington Regional All-Regional Team last season, has not quite gotten off to the offensive start he may have expected in 2024.

The Kalamazoo native is batting just .200 with six RBI on the season, but his defense has been nothing short of stellar. While taking over in left field due to the absence of Ryan Waldschmidt, McCarthy has made multiple run-saving diving plays this season.

Here’s the grab by McCarthy.

Multiple 💎’s so far this year.
pic.twitter.com/ne1uttplAK

— Daniel Hager (@DanielHagerKSR) February 25, 2024

Heading into the season, the expected outfield trio was McCarthy, Waldschmidt, and Western Kentucky transfer Ty Crittenberger. Although Waldschmidt is close to returning to the outfield, McCarthy and Crittenberger (shoulder) are now battling injuries that may take some time to heal.

McCarthy will likely not play the remainder of Kentucky’s weekend series against Lipscomb. Redshirt freshman Lukas Schramm is penciled in to start in left on Saturday.

First pitch for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.