No. 2 Kentucky has made history again by reaching a height that they never had before in the College World Series.
The Wildcats swept Oregon State in the Lexington Super Regional with a 10-0 shutout on Saturday and a 3-2 victory on Sunday. Those two monumental wins for the program will now send them to Omaha for the first time ever in school history.
The Wildcats got the scoring started with one run apiece in the second and top of the fourth. Nolan McCarthy was part of both as his double in the second scored Ryan Nicholson first before a fielder’s choice involving him saw him get to first while Mitchell Daly got home.
However, the Beavers responded in bottom of the fourth due to some uncharacteristic poor pitching from RHP Mason Moore. Between a field error and four walks, the bases got loaded and led to two unearned runs to score by Micah McDowell and Gavin Turley. That would lead to a pitching change to Cameron O’Brien for UK, who got them out of the inning at a tie.
The matchup then had a pitching standoff between O’Brien and Jacob Kmatz through the fifth and sixth
The action then picked back up in the seventh inning upon the insertion of Nelson Keljo. With McCarthy again on base at second, a wild pitch by Keljo got past his catcher at home. No one came up to cover the plate, though, with McCarthy racing and laying out to score the third run of the game and break the 2-2 tie. After that, Kentucky then got themselves out of their own pinch with two on base for Oregon State at the bottom of the seventh.
That was the end of the scoring for both sides. Oregon State wouldn’t respond in their opportunity in the seventh, no one scored a run in the eighth, and then, with two pitching changes, Kentucky just needed one out to end the game. That out came from Johnny Hummel who struck out McDowell in three pitches with two on base to secure the program-shifting victory for UK.
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