Kentucky has lost six of its last eight games; what's gone wrong?

The Kentucky Baseball program, which had posted the seventh best winning percentage in all of College Baseball over the past two seasons (69.92%), has fallen into some unfamiliar territory lately.

After opening the 2025 season with a 13-2 record, the Wildcats have dropped six of their last eight games and now sit at 15-8. Kentucky had not lost six out of eight games since April 9-22, 2023 and had not recorded eight losses before April since the 2022 season (missed NCAA Tournament).

Kentucky has also dropped two consecutive midweek games to Murray State and Xavier, something it also hadn’t done since 2022.

So why is Nick Mingione’s team suddenly running into struggles that it hadn’t faced over the past two seasons. The answer is quite simple really; inconsistency and lack of execution.

Kentucky’s offense, defense and pitching has been extremely below average over the past eight games. As a team, the ‘Cats are hitting for a .268 average (72-269) and boast a team 7.50 ERA (60 ER in 72 IP). Along with these numbers, they have committed nine errors over the eight game span. Some of these errors have been extremely costly, such as Tyler Bell‘s dropped infield fly in the ninth inning of the opening game of the Auburn series.

Some of these blunders weren’t even recorded as errors, including James McCoy over-running second base and being thrown out down one in the ninth inning of their midweek matchup against Murray State, Kyuss Gargett attempting to steal home and being caught to end the Auburn game and Luke Lawrence being thrown out at third trying to leg out a triple in the bottom of the ninth inning down six runs to Xavier. It just seems as if things right now aren’t as polished and connected as they had been over the past two seasons.

“We just need to execute better,” Nick Mingione said following Kentucky’s 9-3 loss to Xavier on Tuesday. “When we do, we get the results we want and when you don’t, that’s the results you get.”

There has been a lack of execution throughout Kentucky’s lineup and pitching staff over the last eight games and beyond, and it has led to a lackluster start to a season that was extremely hyped following the program’s first ever Men’s College World Series appearance in 2024.

Senior catcher Raphael Pelletier, who transferred from Kansas State over the offseason, is still a regular fixture in Kentucky’s lineup and is hitting for just a .108 average in 37 at-bats. First baseman Dylan Koontz, who was brought in to replace a Kentucky legend in Ryan Nicholson, is hitting for a .226 average and has recorded just one at-bat in the last four games. Right-hander Robert Hogan, who was selected as a Preseason All-SEC selection, currently boasts a 16.88 ERA in 2 2/3 innings.

Even highly touted catcher/utility player Ryan Schwartz, who was named the 86th best freshman prior to the season by Perfect Game, has recorded just two at-bats this season.

Players who were expected to play big roles on this team are off to an extremely rough start, and young guys who were thought to become immediate impacts have not yet been given the opportunity to do so. This has brewed to concoct a recipe that involves Kentucky losing six of eight games heading into a road matchup with Preseason No. 1 Texas A&M. A series loss to a reeling Aggie squad, which is 0-6 to begin SEC play, would continue to prompt major questions from Big Blue Nation.

Last season, it took Kentucky dropping a home series to Kennesaw State in which it was outscored 23-3 over the first two games to turn its season around. Maybe in 2025, it’s this stretch that brings the team closer and helps fine tune the inconsistencies that keep popping up this season.