Kentucky RHP Nic McCay named SEC Pitcher of the Week

Kentucky senior right-handed pitcher Nic McCay was named SEC Pitcher of the Week for his stellar performance against No. 4 Tennessee over the weekend.

McCay pitched 7 2/3 innings (longest outing for a Kentucky starter this season) on Saturday, where he held a dangerous Volunteer lineup to just two hits and one run (unearned) with 12 strikeouts. The seventh-year arm lowered his season ERA down to 3.08, which ranks fifth in the SEC.

“I think the fact that his fastball was really good tonight made the other stuff better,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said about McCay following the game. “I’m just using my eyeballs on that but there were some comments in the dugout too that would make that my best guess.”

E7 | @mccay_nicholas puts up another zero, punctuating it with his 10th strikeout. pic.twitter.com/7gqmMypURv

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) April 20, 2025

After a rough start to conference play in which McCay allowed 12 earned runs in his first three appearances (9.53 ERA in 11 1/3 innings), the righty has settled in and allowed just four earned runs in his last three appearances (2.12 ERA in 17 innings).

He is now the eighth Kentucky pitcher to be named SEC Pitcher of the Week since Nick Mingione took over the program in 2017 (Sean Hjelle, Logan Salow, Chris Machamer, Justin Lewis, Zack Thompson, Tyler Guilfoil and Dominic Niman).

McCay, who was selected to the All-Summit League First Team in 2024 and All-Summit League Second Team in 2019 and 2022, transferred to Kentucky from South Dakota State over the offseason. He looks to be on track to be added to the long list of recent successful transfers for the program.

He’ll be back in action on Saturday in Kentucky’s second game of the series against South Carolina. First pitch for that contest is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. EST at Kentucky Proud Park.