Kentucky baseball entered the NCAA Tournament as the number two overall seed, and got to host one of the regionals as a result. After getting wins over Western Michigan and Illinois, only Indiana State stood between the Wildcats and a trip to the super regionals. A dominating pitching performance would send the Cats to the next round.
Once again, Kentucky got the scoring started early. They scored on a first inning sacrifice fly, then on a Ryan Nicholson solo homerun in the second. They would lead 3 – 0 after three innings.
Things stayed that way until the seventh, when Emilien Pitre crushed a two-run homer to put the Wildcats up by five. That would hold, and the final was 5 – 0.
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No Wildcats hitter had more than one hit in the game. Nicholson and Pitre had the big blasts, but it was the pitching that carried the day. Mason Moore pitched six brilliant innings, surrendering just four hits while striking out six. The bullpen gave up just one more hit the rest of the way.
Kentucky will head on to the super regional round as one of the favorites. The offense has been terrific consistently, but if the pitching continues to be great, they can beat anybody.