Mingione ejected as Kentucky battles to keep its baseball season alive in SEC Tournament
The Kentucky baseball season is once again on the brink of ending.
After UK recorded its first postseason win since 2017 on Wednesday afternoon with an opening-round, elimination-game Southeastern Conference Tournament win over Auburn, the Wildcats again find themselves in a “win or go home” scenario.
Kentucky followed its win over Auburn with an 11-6 loss to LSU late Thursday to begin the double-elimination portion of the SEC Tournament.
UK is the No. 12 seed in the tournament — and became the first No. 12 seed to win an SEC Tournament game with its win over Auburn — while LSU is the No. 4 seed.
Kentucky’s loss to LSU means UK was to play Vanderbilt on Friday afternoon in an elimination game in the SEC Tournament, which is being held in Hoover, Alabama.
The matchup between Kentucky (31-25) and LSU (38-18) began at 10:40 p.m. Thursday Eastern time, and didn’t finish until early Friday morning.
The SEC Tournament schedule has essentially been pushed back a day due to repeated weather delays.
The Cats took an early lead over the Tigers via a two-run home run by redshirt freshman catcher Devin Burkes in the second inning, the first of two home runs Burkes hit in the game.
But LSU soon took control.
Fifth-year pitcher Mason Hazelwood — whose strong starting performance helped the Wildcats win their final game of the regular season to secure a spot in Hoover — got the start late Thursday against LSU.
Hazelwood allowed three runs in the third inning as LSU took a lead it wouldn’t relinquish, and he was pulled from the game in the fourth inning without recording an out.
Hazelwood’s final line read: Three innings pitched, five hits allowed, four runs allowed, two walks and three strikeouts.
Junior Zack Lee replaced Hazelwood on the mound for Kentucky in the fourth inning, but was unable to stem the scoring for the Tigers.
Lee’s final line read: Two innings pitched, five hits allowed, five runs allowed and one strikeout.
Lee was on the mound for one of the pivotal moments of the game in the fourth inning, as a close call with Burkes attempting to tag out an LSU runner at home plate went against the Wildcats.
Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione was ejected for his passionate and persistent arguing of the call, which was sent to video review and confirmed.
LSU established a 9-2 lead by the end of six innings, as the Tigers scored three runs in each of the third, fourth and sixth innings.
Burkes’ second home run of the game for UK was a three-run blast to right field in the eighth inning that accounted for UK’s final runs of the game.
Burkes finished the game with careers bests in single-game RBI (five), hits (four) and runs (three).
Up next
For the second time in Hoover, Kentucky faced an elimination game with its season on the line.
UK was to play No. 8 seed Vanderbilt (36-20 overall this season) on Friday afternoon.
The game was to be the second of the day in Hoover, with an approximate start time of 2 p.m. EDT. The game was to be broadcast on the SEC Network.
Vandy won a first-round, elimination game against Ole Miss before losing to No. 1 Tennessee, 10-1, on Thursday night.
Earlier this season, Vanderbilt and UK played a three-game series in Lexington.
Held from April 22-24, Vandy took two of three games from Kentucky, including a combined no-hitter in a 10-0 win.
The winner of the UK-Vanderbilt game will face the winner of the Arkansas-Florida game in another elimination game Saturday.
