Before he was able to wear Kentucky blue, pitcher Nic McCay had an illustrious career. Beginning his time at South Dakota State all the way back in 2019, he earned a spot in the starting rotation, finding 6-1 in his first collegiate season.

However, due to injury, he would miss the entire 2020 and 2021 campaigns. He returned in 2022, earning second-team All-Summit League honors and leading the team in starts, innings pitched and strikeouts. 

Unfortunately, yet again, McCay would miss the following season due to injury. His final year with the Jackrabbits eventually turned some heads, where he went 4-2 on the season and forced batters to only hit .226 against him. 

Finally, after a roller coaster of emotions and figuring out what was next for himself, McCay was on the mound for the Kentucky Wildcats on Feb. 14, pitching not only his first game for the team, but earning the day one start. 

He finished the game with the win, striking out four batters in five innings, only giving up two hits and walking two batters. Thanks to his performance, the Wildcats would go on to win their first game of the season 11-0 against Lipscomb. 

Exactly a week later, the senior was on the mound again, now going up against the Belmont Bruins. After getting his feet wet, this outing proved that he can be Kentucky’s number one guy on any given night.

He pitched six innings, striking out seven batters and only giving up two hits out of the total 21 batters he faced. McCay received his second win of the season, and Wildcats scraped by with a 2-1 win. 

Recently, we saw McCay pitch his first game in Lexington, Kentucky on Feb. 28, getting his third start of the season against Hofstra. Before this matchup, he hadn’t given up a single earned run and batters facing him were hitting just .105. 

Although Hofstra would score a run in the second inning, McCay would strike out three batters in that inning, leaving runners stranded. Once again in the fourth inning, the RHP and the Kentucky defense would only allow one run and escape another scary inning.

Eventually, after several mound visits, McCay would turn it over to redshirt senior Evan Byers, who ultimately got the win on the day. 

McCay pitched 4.1 innings, striking out six batters, walking four batters and giving up two runs (one earned).

The Wildcats went on to 7-5, improving to 7-1 on the season. 

After the game, Head Coach Nick Mingione admitted McCay could’ve pitched better, but was still proud of his performance. 

“He wasn’t as sharp, but I give him a lot of credit,” said Mingione. “We still got four and a third innings out of him, where he only gave up one earned run, you know what I mean? That’s a good thing.” 

Now, with three starts officially in the books, McCay’s new chapter of his life at the University of Kentucky is in full spring, and he’s just getting started. 

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. 

At halftime, Georgia Amoore jogged into the locker room with 12 points against No. 7 LSU, helping the Kentucky Wildcats hold a 38-26 lead over one of the top teams in the nation. 

Historic Memorial Coliseum exploded with cheers for the star point guard on Feb. 23, with all hope and belief that LSU Head Coach Kim Mulkey and her Tigers would head back to Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a loss. 

The Australian native always has immense pressure on her shoulders to bring this team to glory, leading the team in both points and assists per game. However, without Amoore putting up impressive stat lines night-in and night-out, Kentucky can be seen as an unthreatening team. 

Sure, Amoore isn’t the only special talent on the team. Amelia Hassett, Teonni Key and Clara Strack, the triplets, are the only trio in Division-I women’s basketball this season to average at least nine and a half points and eight rebounds per game. 

Dazia Lawrence is 19th in the nation with a 44% three-point percentage. They’re the only team in the country with four players with at least 20 blocks, consisting of Hassett, Key, Strack and Clara Silva. 

These numbers define the Wildcats’ 21-5 season and the fourth best  conference record in the SEC, but fans have caught a glimpse of what happens when Amoore has an “off-night.”

On Dec. 5, the Wildcats suffered a 72-53 loss on the road against the No. 16 North Carolina Tar Heels, where Amoore put up 10 points on 4-12 shooting, missing all five of her shots from deep and picking up four fouls. Strack, the team’s second leading scorer, had to step up for Amoore when times were tough, and put up four points and shot 2-10 from the field. 

On Jan. 23, the Wildcats went on the road yet again, facing a 9-8 Texas A&M team where the Cats were heavily favored. Amoore shot 5-18 from the field, missed every 3-pointer she took yet again, and had to lean on Strack and others for offensive production. Strack shot 2-12 and finished the game with six points. They lost 61-55. 

They’re one of the best teams in the SEC, the best conference in college basketball. Yet, they are yet to get over the hump and take down the top teams in the conference, simply because Amoore is swarmed all game. 

On Feb. 13, Amoore crumbled against No. 3 Texas, shooting just 5-16 from the field and putting up 14 points. With redemption on the line, Amoore came back out for the second half against LSU with fiery eyes. 

In the first half, the fifth year guard wasn’t “carrying the team” for once and she received nine points from both Hassett and Lawrence. These two did not score again. 

The Wildcats came out in the third quarter and were a prime witness to how good the top teams are. The Tigers went on to outscore Kentucky 23-6 in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Amoore missed all of her shots and didn’t score once. 

In the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, Kentucky scored more points than it did in the entire third quarter and an Amoore layup gave the Wildcats a 52-51 lead. However, she wouldn’t score again and Kentucky would only score six more points. They lost 65-58.

She finished the game shooting 6-22 from the field and 3-15 from three.

After the game, Kentucky Head Coach Kenny Brooks opened up the press conference with a statement that any coach would hate to admit. 

“Obviously disappointed with the outcome. Give LSU credit,” said Brooks. “They wanted it a little bit more than we did. They made the plays they needed to make and we didn’t.”  

However, motivated as usual, Brooks followed that up with aspirations. 

“When you play a team of that magnitude, you have to be able to be on point,” said Brooks. “We’ll learn from this.” 

You can’t even blame Kentucky. All season, they’ve defeated the odds and shocked the country. They competed with the No. 7 team in the country in a “rebuild” year after winning just 12 games last year. 

With just a handful of games remaining in Amoore’s collegiate career, she has to play her best against top opponents to help the Wildcats prove everyone wrong once again. 

To finish off the regular season, Kentucky will host No. 15 Tennessee on Feb. 27 and face No. 6 South Carolina on the road on March 2nd.