Kentucky Pitching Stymies Ball State in 4-0 NCAA Tournament Regional Opener
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky's first-ever NCAA Tournament game in Lexington came in 2006, when the Wildcats hosted Ball State at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The Cardinals won that game, 3-1.
17 years later, the Wildcats hosted the Cardinals for the first postseason game in the history of Kentucky Proud Park. Runs were once again at a premium, but it was the home team that came away victorious on Friday afternoon.
Catcher Devin Burkes blasted his seventh — and biggest — home run of the season to break a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth. The one swing served as the ultimate difference-maker, as the UK pitching staff held Ball State to three hits, leading to a gritty 4-0 win for the Wildcats in the opener of the 2023 NCAA Tournament Lexington Regional.
After Ball State finally pulled ace pitcher Trennor O'Donnell in the eighth inning, Kentucky jumped on Cardinals' reliever Sam Klein for three crucial insurance runs. Second baseman Émilien Pitre delivered the goods with a two-run single into right-center field, blowing things open.
Redshirt freshman Travis Smith threw four scoreless innings, while reliever Mason Moore retired all 14 batters he faced, earning 15 outs in just 50 pitches, finishing off UK's first-ever shutout NCAA Tournament win in program history.
"Great game by both teams," UK head coach Nick Mingione said. "Love the way we defended. We talk about pitching and defense all the time and we got that."
The Cardinals immediately threatened in the top of the first, as Decker Scheffler and Adam Tellier each found first-pitch knocks off T. Smith, with the latter taking a big bounce over the head of first baseman Hunter Gilliam, leading to a double that out two runners in scoring position with one out.
Smith battled, lucked into a lineout, then dropped a pair of off-speed pitches that fooled designated hitter Andrew Wilhite for a big strikeout to wiggle out of the early jam, giving Kentucky Proud Park its first reason to roar on the sunny Friday afternoon.
"What an outing for (Smith), got us going," Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said of the starter. they had some traffic in the first his ability to work his way through that I thought was big moving forward."
After stranding another runner in scoring position in the second, Smith worked a one-two-three top of the third, retiring the top of the Ball State lineup in order, finished by fanning Tellier.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals' starter O'Donnell cruised, despite allowing a baserunner in each of his first three frames. The veteran right-hander entered Friday with 84.2 innings and a 2.98 ERA under his belt. After surrendering an infield single to Grant Smith to lead off the bottom of the third, O'Donnell struck out Jackson Gray, then got Jase Felker to roll into a double play to retire the side.
"He raised the bar, he was outstanding," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said of his ace. "He kept Kentucky off balance all day long — a really good Kentucky team. Proud of Trennor for that."
Trouble arose for T. Smith again in the fourth, as he surrendered a two-out single to Blake Bevis, then hit Logan Flood to put a second runner on and another in scoring position. After falling behind 2-0 in the count to CF Nick Gregory, UK pitching coach Dan Roszel took a mound visit to calm down the redshirt freshman. The next pitch resulted in a lazy fly out to left field, ending the threat.
The Kentucky starter was rewarded for his work in the bottom half of the inning, as Burkes broke the deadlock with his opposite-field solo shot to right. After falling behind in the count 2-0, O'Donnell — who allowed only four hits and a walk while striking out five — worked back, but hurled a mistake heater up in the zone that was promptly deposited into the sea of lawn chairs underneath the KPP scoreboard to put the Wildcats ahead, 1-0.
"Honestly, I was just I was trying to put the ball in play," Burkes said of his home run swing. "I was just trying to get on base for the guys. I knew I got it pretty good."
T. Smith walked the nine-hole hitter Justin Conant to start the top of the fifth in what was his final batter of the day. Mingione made the walk to the bump, signaling in the trusty right-hander Moore to take the reins and face the top of the Cardinals' order.
The Morehead, Ky. native did just that, inducing a double-play grounder and a harmless fly ball, kickstarting his stellar five-inning performance that stymied the Cardinals lineup.
"We knew their attack. We knew that they were going to be out there swinging and you know, I knew coming in that I would just have to attack the strike zone and I trust my defense a lot," Moore said postgame.
"For Mason to throw 50 pitches in five innings, that's incredible," Mingione said. "The strength of our team is the amount of different guys we can use as starters or out of the bullpen."
O'Donnell was finally relieved with a runner on and one out in the eighth, as Ball State brought the junior right-hander Klein. Felker slashed a single to left before Burkes drew a walk to load the bags for Pitre. Before his single, a run was already pushed across thanks to a wild pitch. The Canadian infielder then drove a 1-1 pitch into the outfield, ending the upset hopes of the MAC Tournament champs.
"There's no way you shut out a good Ball State team without really good offense, without pitching and superb defense, and our guys were that today," Mingione said.
Kentucky now awaits the winner of No. 2 West Virginia and No. 3 Indiana. The Mountaineers and Hoosiers will square off at 7 p.m. EST at Kentucky Proud Park.
- 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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