Kentucky Demolishes Indiana to Force Winner-Take-All Regional Final
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Hours removed from a 10-0 win over West Virginia, an adrenaline dump would've felt totally reasonable for Kentucky.
Instead, the Wildcats, who collected 14 hits, mistook their bats for lightning rods, as Indiana, the same team that defeated UK on Saturday night, offered up a whopping nine hit batsmen and four walks, leading to a dominant 16-6 victory.
The 16 runs are the most in an NCAA Tournament game for UK in program history, besting a 14-run performance in 2017, which coincidentally also came against Indiana in Lexington. The nine HBPs from Hoosier pitching was one off of tying the NCAA record.
Battered and bruised, Kentucky — playing as the away team — collected seven runs in the seventh inning, headlined by a gargantuan three-run home run from first baseman Hunter Gilliam and a two-run bomb from left fielder Ryan Waldschmidt.
"Proud of our toughness," head coach Nick Mingione said. "I know you guys aren't surprised that we were able to do that. I can't say enough good things about them. I've been saying it all year and it was apparent today really how tough these guys are."
A grand total of 10 Wildcats collected a knock in the drubbing, led by Gilliam, who went 3-for-6 at the dish with five RBIs. Nolan McCarthy hit his second home run of the day, he and Waldschmidt each had three RBIs. Reuben Church and Jase Felker were each hit by pitches three times.
Reliever Ryan Hagenow turned in one of his best outings of the season, pitching 4.2 innings of three-run baseball, nullifying any late rally ideas for Indiana. The victory sets up a winner-take-all showdown for UK and IU on Monday.
Missed opportunities were plentiful for the Wildcats on Saturday in the 5-3 loss to the Hoosiers, as they went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, squandering multiple chances to break away and build a lead.
It looked like that nasty trend was going to continue on Sunday night, as a leadoff walk and hit batsman had two runners on with no outs for the Cats against Indiana starter Ben Seiler. After working a full count, Devin Burkes looked to execute a hit-and-run, which worked so well for UK in its win over WVU.
Instead, a grounder found the glove of the second baseman Evan Goforth, who had an easy double play by stepping on the bag and firing over to first, leaving a runner on third with two down. Seiler got Émilien Pitre to fly out to center, ending the threat.
Kentucky would leave its fair share of runners on base, but not before breaking through on offense.
A sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position with one out for McCarthy, who decided he'd rather play long ball, muscling up a no-doubt three-run home run over the wall in left field to put the Wildcats ahead, 3-0. It was the second four-bagger of the day for the UK right fielder, who entered the day with only one on the season.
"It's really good. We all know we can hit. We're a really good offense. We can do small ball and we can also leave the yard. I just think we've got everything going for us," McCarthy said.
Two more singles and an HBP loaded the bags directly after the homer, forcing Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer to signal to the bullpen after his starter recorded just four outs. In came RHP Evan Phillips, who proved to have little feel for his pitches.
A wild pitch brought home a fourth run in the inning, though he did strand three after a walk, getting Hunter Gilliam to ground out short. That was only the beginning of the rollercoaster ride.
The wild right-hander hit Church and Grant Smith in the third, both of whom traded stares at the mound. Phillips again managed to dance around the ducks on the pond, keeping the deficit at four. He was rewarded for his efforts in the bottom half, as a peculiar play got the Hoosiers on the board.
Goforth — who entered the game with just one hit on the season, starting at 2B in place of the suspended Tyler Cerny — roped a shot to deep center, finding the glove of CF Jackson Gray. The lights-out defender couldn't hang on to the ball, however, as it rolled out of his glove and crept over the wall for a solo home run.
A pair of singles then plated another for the Hoosiers in the inning, as Devin Taylor drove in Phillip Glasser, cutting the UK lead in half. That was all the damage allowed by Kentucky starter Logan Martin, who threw 3.0 innings, his longest outing since March 4, as the Division-III transfer has dealt with injury for most of the 2023 season. He struck out three, allowing three hits and two walks on 57 pitches.
The HBP barrage continued in the fourth, as Phillips hit the last two batters he faced. He made way for hard-throwing righty Luke Hayden, who surrendered a two-run single to Gilliam after getting ahead of the UK 1B 0-2. The knock extended the Cats' lead back to four at 6-2.
Indiana designated hitter Carter Mathison hit a solo home run off left-hander Evan Byers in the bottom half of the frame, as the Hoosiers continued to try and chip away. As they chipped, Kentucky continued to take lumberjack hacks against the wilting Hoosier bullpen.
Following Gray's first base hit of the weekend in the fifth, Burkes got into an 0-1 pitch, smoking it to left-center field for a two-run homer, his second of the postseason. An RBI single from Waldschmidt in the sixth made it 9-3.
"Sometimes games go sideways. Today was one of those games," Mercer said postgame. "You just pick up and move on. You've got two to win one and go back and play tomorrow. Just gotta move on."
Then came the onslaught. Four hits, including the homers for Gilliam and Waldschmidt, sent Big Blue Nation into a frenzy as Hagenow continued to deal down the stretch.
Despite allowing two runs in the bottom of the ninth, Hagenow provided Kentucky with length, something he had done just once this season, back during the opening weekend of SEC play against Mississippi State, throwing 4.1 scoreless on March 18.
"He's one of those guys, where you can give him the ball and he can go one, two, three -- did he get four and two-thirds today? He's that good and he's that talented," Mingione said of Hagenow. "So it was good to get him back out there and just let him go and just pitch. Sometimes he's been in a lot of different roles. But sometimes when we got him that lead and it was just good for him to just be able to go."
The smushing sets up one final game between Kentucky and Indiana, which will be played at Kentucky Proud Park on Monday, June 5 at 6 p.m. EST. Kentucky is one win away from its second Super Regional in program history.
"Momentum is cool and all. But this win expires when we wake up or when we go to bed tonight," Gilliam said. "So we're going to create our own momentum tomorrow. And that's the momentum we are worried about is pitch one tomorrow."
Game recap of Kentucky's 4-0 win over Ball State can be found HERE, while more on reliever Mason Moore can be found HERE.
Game recap of Indiana's 5-3 win over the Wildcats can be found HERE.
Game recap of Kentucky's 10-0 win over West Virginia can be found HERE.
- For a complete preview of the action this weekend in Lexington, click HERE.
- For some UK baseball postseason lore, click HERE.
- Everything Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said about the draw HERE.
- More on Mingione HERE.
- More on Kentucky's pitching staff heading into the postseason HERE.
- Find out which Kentuckians are returning to their home state to play HERE.
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