Kentucky’s baseball home opener sets off a race to the record book
The University of Kentucky baseball team took the field in Lexington on Tuesday for the first time since the scintillating super-regional sweep of Oregon State that launched the Wildcats into their first-ever College World Series last season.
The stakes were not as high, but the result was the same: a big victory for Kentucky.
Tuesday’s 24-3, seven-inning defeat of Evansville in the Wildcats’ 2025 home opener at Kentucky Proud Park was UK’s fourth in a row and fifth in six games to start this season. The run-rule win was played in front of an announced crowd of 2,088 on a sunny, 60-degree afternoon.
Kentucky’s 24 runs were the sixth most in a game in program history, the most in the Nick Mingione coaching era and the most since the Cats put up 26 and 24 in the same three-game series against Ball State in 2014. The school record is 30, set in a 1978 win over Eastern Kentucky. Tuesday marked the seventh time UK scored 24 runs, which set a record for Kentucky Proud Park. The 21-run margin of victory tied for the fifth-largest in school history, behind the record set in a 27-0 win over Tennessee-Martin in 2007.
The Wildcats, ranked No. 23 in the nation this week by Baseball America, scored seven runs in the first inning, one in the third, three in the fourth, four in the fifth and nine in the sixth against Evansville (1-6).
Kentucky built its run total on the strength of 17 hits, with help from three Evansville errors, four hit batsmen, four wild pitches, two balks and nine bases on balls.
“I thought offensively, the game started great,” Mingione said. “We started with what we did. It was just good at-bat after good at-bat. That was the story of tonight, our ability to string together good at-bats.”
Senior first baseman Dylan Koontz and senior left fielder Cole Hage hit home runs for the Cats. Fifth-year catcher Devin Burkes went 4-for-5 with three doubles and four RBI. Hage went 3-for-4, including a double. Koontz drove in three runs. Sophomore third baseman Ethan Hindle had two RBI. Thirteen different players drove in at least one run.
“Just came out ready to play. This is what we do,” Burkes said. “We’re just always grinding out at-bats, not making it easy on the pitchers to get us out. We just stay with it, keep grinding and getting quality at-bats. We’re just trying to repeat and stack them on top of each other.”
Kentucky’s four pitchers limited Evansville to four hits. Freshman right-hander Nate Harris (1-0) picked up the win, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out two in four innings as the starter. Robert Hogan, Tristan Hunter and Tommy Skelding closed things out pitching an inning apiece.
Kentucky (5-1) was scheduled to be back at Kentucky Proud Park on Wednesday to host in-state rival Morehead State (4-2) at 4 p.m. (SEC Network+). The Eagles were supposed to be Kentucky’s home-opening opponent last Tuesday but the game was postponed until this week because of cold temperatures.
The Wildcats, who open Southeastern Conference play March 14-16 at Georgia, continue their nonconference slate this weekend with three games in Lexington against Hofstra (3-4).
This story was originally published February 25, 2025 at 8:42 PM.