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Bat Cats to play at Kentucky Proud Park for the first time in 261 days

Published

10 months ago

February 25, 2025

Kentucky Wildcats infielder Ryan Nicholson (25) fives Kentucky Wildcats head coach Nick Mingione after hitting a home ru

Jordan Prather - Imagn

Last year, Kentucky baseball reached new heights, clinching its first-ever Men’s College World Series with a 3-2 win over Oregon State in the 2024 NCAA Lexington Super Regional.

Now, for the first time since that moment on June 9, the Wildcats return to Kentucky Proud Park on Tuesday, Feb. 25 for a matchup against Evansville.

Last year, on March 19, the Wildcats blew out Evansville 11-3. Now, with more new faces than less, Wildcat fans will get a taste of Nick Mingione’s newly loaded roster.

Trey Pooser, Mason Moore and Dominic Niman, Kentucky’s main pitchers, all departed for bigger and better things in the MLB. Kentucky’s offense also lost seven out of its nine starters.

However, the Bat Cats bounced back with the ninth-best transfer portal class, with seven out of their 15 transfers ranking in the top 250 in this year’s class.

So far, these transfers have shined bright early on in the season, especially South Dakota State transfer Nic McCay and Milwaukee transfer Carson Hansen.

McCay needed just 10 pitches in his first inning as a Wildcat to retire the side. Taking the mound in the Wildcats’ season debut, he only gave up two hits in just five innings. He was awarded the win in the 11-0 mercy rule on Feb. 14.

In his first series for the Wildcats against Belmont, Hansen went 4-5, two of those hits being home runs to bring in a total of six RBIs. He’s tied with freshman Tyler Bell for the most on the team.

With Hansen hitting runners in, and a revived pitching staff boasting a 1.58 team ERA, the Wildcats are off to a 4-1 start, coming into their home opener on a three-game win streak.

Kentucky and Mingione will look to take down Evansville Head Coach Wes Carroll and the Purple Aces to keep a hot start to the season alive. The first pitch is set for 4 p.m.

Related Topics:Bat Cats Kentucky baseball Nick Mingione

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Top-seeded Kentucky Cruises Through Wofford & No. 8 UCLA for Sweet 16 Appearance

Published

5 days ago

December 6, 2025

Kelly Doherty

Kentucky's Asia Thigpen adding their name to the Sweet 16. Photo by Marissa Gilchrist of UK Athletics.

Marissa Gilchrist | UK Athletics

This past weekend, Kentucky’s volleyball team extended its win streak to 24 straight after a quick sweep against the Wofford Terriers (17-14) and a tough 3-1 battle vs the No. 8 UCLA Bruins (19-13) to punch a ticket to a fourth straight Sweet 16 appearance.

First Round: Wofford
Kentucky’s biggest strength on the court throughout its dominant two-loss season has always been their suffocating offensive prowess, but it was the defense that would end up giving Wofford no chance of survival, emphasized by a rally era record in digs (in a three-set match) with 66.

It took a while to get Big Blue going on the offense, but 14 kills from Wildcats star Brooklyn DeLeye would keep the ball rolling and lead the sweep that volleyball fans expected from the second-ranked team in the bracket (only behind undefeated Nebraska).

Second Round: No. 8 UCLA

It’s truly impressive that Kentucky won this match 3-1. The No. 8 seeded Bruins kept the Cats on their claws throughout the whole game, including Kentucky’s two longest sets of the season, the second of which would lead to UCLA’s lone set point.

Despite the gutsier match of Kentucky’s two so far, Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner kept high praise for his team’s persistent focus and effort in the post presser.

“(UCLA’s) high end is pretty ridiculous,” said Skinner. “For us to weather the storms in the first set and pull that out and then add pressure after losing the third set, a tight one, I give (Eva Hudson & Brooklyn DeLeye) a lot of credit for carrying the offensive load and bailing us out of some situations, which was huge.”

Coming Up

Kentucky will play in the third round of the NCAA Volleyball tournament against Cal Poly, a team that upset No. 5 BYU in the first round and regional host No. 4 USC in the second round. The day and time have yet to be released.

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No. 17 Kentucky Represents in the ACC/SEC Challenge, Dominates Miami

Published

1 week ago

December 4, 2025

AJ Nava

Morgan Simmons | UK Athletics

No. 17 Kentucky women’s basketball (9-1) traveled to Florida and beat the Miami Hurricanes (5-3) 64-48 on Wednesday, Dec. 3.

Entering the game, the Wildcats and the Hurricanes were both 1-1 in the ACC/SEC Challenge, but in the third annual challenge, the Cats got the last laugh.

Monster Third Quarter

It was a three-point game at the end of the first half, however, an explosion of offense during the third quarter created a large gap in the score that wouldn’t get close again.

The Wildcats outscored Miami 24-15 in the third and it was Tonie Morgan leading the way offensively.

Morgan scored more points in the third quarter (9) than she scored in the whole first half (7), finishing with 20 points and four assists in the win.

The Cats also got it done defensively, finishing with nine steals and four blocks as a team while also scoring 25 points off of Hurricane turnovers.

Kentucky has yet to lose a game when leading at halftime and improve to a 9-1 record with the win.

Up next for the Wildcats is a home game versus Central Michigan (5-3) on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 12:00 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on SEC Network+.

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Kentucky Volleyball Earns No. 1 Seed in NCAA Tournament

Published

2 weeks ago

December 1, 2025

AJ Nava

Eddie Justice | UK Athletics

Kentucky volleyball (25-2, 15-0 SEC), who just won a ninth straight SEC championship, have officially been awarded a No. 1 seed (No. 2 overall) in the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Championship.

On Sunday, Nov. 30, the NCAA announced that Kentucky would be the No. 1 overall seed in the Lexington Regional. The squad went a perfect 15-0 in conference play this season and earned an automatic NCAA qualifying spot after winning the SEC Tournament Championship last weekend.

Kentucky is joined by Nebraska, Texas and Pittsburgh, as the top four seeds in the tournament, meaning the four teams can host all the way up to the Final Four if they make it that far.

The Final Four games and championship games will take place in the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Wildcats enter the NCAA tournament on a 22-game win streak, with their last loss taking place all the way back in September versus what was then No. 7 Pittsburgh.

The opening match in Lexington will be No. 8 UCLA (18-12) vs. Georgia Tech (16-13) in Historic Memorial Coliseum on Thursday Dec. 4 at 4:30 p.m. ET.

After the opening match, Kentucky will play Wofford (17-13) the same day at 7:00 p.m. ET. All first and second round games will be broadcasted live on ESPN+.

All-session tickets will go on sale to the general public through UKathletics.com and the UK Ticket Office on Monday at 10 a.m. ET. Single-session tickets will go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET.