After a thrilling start to the College World Series on Friday with two walk-off wins, Saturday’s opener picked up right where they left off. Kentucky took a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning, but NC State tied it up on a big swing – setting up more late-inning heroics in the second game of the weekend.
Mitchell Daly came up with the biggest swing of the day for Kentucky, launching a two-run home run over the left field fence in the 10th inning to seal the walk-off victory. It’s not only the third consecutive game-winner in Omaha, but the 15th of the NCAA Tournament. That set a new record for the current format, which began in 1999, according to SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic.
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For Kentucky, it was an exciting ending to the program’s first-ever College World Series game. The Bat ‘Cats are officially in the winners’ bracket, and it was a wild road to get there.
The two teams headed to the ninth tied at 3-3, and NC State got something cooking. Jacob Cozart’s one-out single put runners on first and third with one out. Kentucky then made a pitching change, and a Johnny Hummel’s first pitch bounced past the catcher, scoring Garrett Pennington to give the Wolfpack the 4-3 advantage heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Then, there was more Omaha magic. Ryan Nicholson led off the inning with a home run into the left field corner to immediately bring it back to a 4-4 tie. After a single from Nolan McCarthy, pinch-runner Ty Crittenberger gambled and advance to third on a groundout with two outs. But Emilien Pitre’s line drive bounced off the pitcher’s glove and gave NC State just enough time to get the final out.
That meant it was time for free baseball. NC State went down in order in the top of the 10th, giving Kentucky another chance of a walk-off. Daly was up to the task, launching a home run over the left field fence to give Kentucky the 5-4 victory in a thriller.
How it happened: Kentucky walks off NC State
Kentucky didn’t waste any time getting the scoring started in its first College World Series game. The Wildcats got a double from Pitre in the first inning, and he advanced to third on a throwing error. That allowed him to score easily on a Nick Lopez single, giving the Bat ‘Cats a 1-0 lead.
That score held until the third inning when NC State tied it up on an RBI single from Cozart, who brought in Pennington to make it 1-1. But Kentucky responded in a huge way when Nolan McCarthy launched a two-run home run to break the tie and put the Wildcats back out in front, 3-1, in the fourth inning.
Once again, though, the Wolfpack got a clutch hit. Only this time, it went into the right field bleachers as Alec Makarewicz launched a two-run shot to get it back to a tie game at 3-3 in the seventh inning. That score held until the ninth when NC State scored on the wild pitch, setting up the Kentucky rally in the bottom half of the inning to send the game to extras.
Kentucky now advances to Monday night in the winners’ bracket and awaits the winner of Florida vs. Texas A&M, which will cap off Saturday’s action from Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. As for NC State, the Wolfpack will take on the loser of that matchup on Monday afternoon.
The College World Series format features two brackets in a double-elimination format starting Friday and Saturday. Then, the final two teams will square off in a best-of-three series starting June 22.
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