Kentucky opens Regional with 10-8 win over Western Michigan
No. 1 seed Kentucky took care of business in the Lexington Regional opener on Friday, holding off frisky No. 4 Western Michigan 10-8.
After scoring just four runs in last year’s Lexington Regional opener against Ball State, the Cats scored four runs in just three innings on Friday. They finished with 10 runs on 13 hits.
Kentucky led 8-0 through four innings, but were outscored 8-2 over the final five innings by Western Michigan. The Cats however held the Broncos scoreless over the final three innings, cementing the win.
“You guys have watched us play. How many times have we been in that same game,” Nick Mingione joked postgame. “I feel like we’ve been there so many times.”
James McCoy was the unlikely star of Kentucky’s win on Friday, as he broke out of his 0-21 hitless slump in a big way. McCoy hit a two-run home run and an RBI-double, bringing in three RBI on the day.
Kentucky’s win marked its 18th NCAA Tournament win in program history. The Cats have now won three consecutive Regional opening games (2017, 2023, 2024).
The Cats will now face the winner of Indiana State/Illinois on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. EST. Western Michigan/the loser of Indiana State and Illinois will play in an eliminator on Saturday at noon EST, with the loser heading home.
Players of the Game:
- RF James McCoy: The right-fielder snapped out of his slump, hitting a two-run home run and an RBI-double.
- 3B Mitch Daly: Daly, who is no stranger to NCAA Tournament play, went 2-4 with two doubles and two RBI.
- RHP Robert Hogan: Hogan was huge in relief for the Cats on Friday, allowing just two hits and no earned runs over the final 3 1/3 innings pitched.
Cats scratch across first runs
Kentucky left-hander Dominic Niman made his 15th start of the season for the Cats on Friday, a move that puzzled many due to his recent struggles.
In his prior 19 innings pitched before Friday’s start, Niman sported an 11.84 ERA and had made it past the fifth inning in just two of his last seven starts. The lefty however came out dealing in the first inning, striking out two Broncos in a scoreless effort.
The Kentucky offense then came up to bat for the first time in the bottom of the first and pushed across a run by employing its world famous “Mingione Ball.”
Kentucky’s Ryan Waldschmidt, Émilien Pitre, and Devin Burkes all drew 3-2 counts to open the game. While Pitre flew out, Waldschmidt and Burkes drew walks. This brought up base-hit machine Nick Lopez with runners on second and third following a Burkes steal.
Lopez lifted a deep RBI sac-fly to right center field, allowing Waldschmidt to trot home easily to give the Cats a 1-0 lead. After another scoreless inning from Niman, the Cats added on to their lead in the second.
After a Nolan McCarthy one-out single, a struggling James McCoy stepped up to bat. McCoy, who had not totaled a hit in his last 21 at-bats, has been mightily struggling since his 3-4 performance in the series opener against Florida (May 10).
McCoy came up big for the Cats, as he lifted a two-run home run just fair over the right field fence. In breaking his 0-21 hitless streak, McCoy notched his sixth Big Blue Bomb of the season to give the Cats a 3-0 advantage.
“I saw a slider the pitch before,” McCoy said postgame. “It was called a ball but he went back to it so I felt good swinging at it. When I first hit it, I thought it was going to hook foul so I kinda got out of the box and thought, ‘oh, it’s foul.’ But I took a couple more steps and said, ‘oh, that’s fair’ so it was cool to see it go over.”
Four-run third inning extends Wildcat lead
Kentucky scored four more runs in a big third inning effort, extending its lead to seven.
Devin Burkes and Nick Lopez led off the inning with a single and a double, putting two immediately in scoring position for Mitch Daly. Daly hit a chopping grounder to Western Michigan second baseman Grady Mee, who fumbled the ball for an error. Burkes scored, giving the Cats a 4-0 lead.
The runs just kept coming for the Cats, as an RBI-single from Ryan Nicholson, an RBI-double from James McCoy, and a Grant Smith RBI sac-fly extended Kentucky’s lead to seven by the end of the third.
Another run in the fourth on a Mitch Daly RBI-double gave the Cats an 8-0 lead, but that wouldn’t last long. A big inning was looming for a Western Michigan team fighting to make it a game once again.
Western Michigan fights back in fifth
“Buzzard’s luck” struck the Cats in the fifth, as Kentucky allowed five runs without a WMU hit leaving the infield.
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Niman loaded the bases on a walk, a hit by pitch, and an infield single from Greg Budig. WMU’s Grady Mee, who made an error earlier in the game allowing a Kentucky run to score, then beat out a soft grounder to Grant Smith to plate WMU’s first run of the game.
Jackson Kitchen followed Mee’s infield single with one of his own, a chopper to third which Mitch Daly was unable to come up with. Back-to-back runs scored on RBI infield singles, pulling the Broncos within six.
Three more WMU runs would score in the fifth on a bases loaded walk, another RBI-infield single from Dylan Nevar, and an RBI-groundout from CJ Sullivan.
Dominic Niman’s day came to an end after allowing three runs without recording an out. Two of his baserunners he put on ended up scoring, pushing his earned run total to five on the day. He was relieved by right-hander Cam O’Brien, who got the Cats out of a big jam.
The Broncos were threatening with runners on second and third with one out in the inning, but O’Brien got out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.
Cats and Broncos trade punches
After allowing Western to pull within three, Kentucky scored two runs in the fifth to extend that lead back out to five. A Ryan Waldschmidt RBI sac-fly and an Émilien Pitre RBI-single got the job done, but the Broncos just refused to go away.
Left-hander Evan Byers got the first two outs in the sixth inning, but allowed a single and a walk to put runners on first and second. Cade Sullivan took advantage, ripping an RBI-single up the middle to pull WMU within four. After a hit by pitch to load the bases, the MAC’s batting title winner CJ Richmond belted a two-run double down the left field line to take the wind out of the sails of the many, many, Kentucky fans in attendance.
Suddenly, Western Michigan trailed by just two.
Kentucky holds on for win
Looking to put out the fire in the sixth, right-hander Robert Hogan entered to get the Cats out of another jam. Hogan was a guy Mingione would have liked to save for later this weekend, but using him in that situation was a no brainer.
Hogan came in and completely shut down the surging WMU offense, allowing just one hit in 2 1/3 innings pitched.
Kentucky failed to score over the final three innings, allowing the Broncos to come back up to bat in the top of the ninth down just two.
The right-hander remained in the game in the ninth, allowing just one hit but no more. He however hit a batter and walked one to load the bases with two outs, putting everyone in KPP on pins and needles. Hogan however forced a flyout to preserve the Wildcat win.
I guess just throwing strikes. That was the biggest inning, just being able to throw every pitch for a strike. That keeps the hitters off balance.
“I have an unbelievable defense behind me,” Hogan said postgame. “So it’s easy to pitch when you have guys like G[rant Smith] behind me and James [McCoy]. They’re getting the balls that not a lot of teams can. It’s a lot easier to pitch like that.”
Victory, Cayts.
What’s next for Kentucky?
Kentucky will face the winner of Indiana State/Illinois on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. EST.
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