Kentucky baseball earns 2025 NCAA Tournament at-large bid despite poor finish
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- Kentucky earned a 2025 NCAA at-large bid despite SEC Tournament first-round exit.
- Strong RPI ranking and top-10 schedule strength helped offset late-season losses.
- Young core, including All-SEC Freshman Teamer Tyler Bell, led UK.
For the first time in program history, Kentucky baseball has reached the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons.
The Wildcats were awarded a No. 3 seed in the Clemson Regional of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Clemson is the No. 11 overall seed in the tournament. Kentucky, which enters the tournament at 29-24, will open tournament play against No. 2 regional seed West Virginia on Friday at noon. No. 4 regional seed South Carolina Upstate is the other team in the four-team pod.
The winner of the Clemson Regional would face the winner of the LSU Regional next week in the super-regional round.
There was drama entering Monday’s selection show about whether Kentucky would be included in the field. The Wildcats were considered safe for an at-large bid entering conference tournament week but lost their first-round game in the SEC Tournament against Oklahoma, a team that UK swept two weeks earlier, on Tuesday. Even after that game, both of the most prominent bracket projections had the Wildcats in the field. However, a series of unexpected results elsewhere in conference tournaments, including Western Kentucky’s win in the Conference USA Tournament, knocked Kentucky to the first team out of the field in the final projections from both D1Baseball and Baseball America published Monday morning.
Instead, a No. 38 ranking in the RPI and overall strength of schedule ranked ninth nationally, according to D1Baseball, were apparently enough to keep Nick Mingione’s team in the field as one of the final at-large selections. The selection committee did not even list Kentucky among the last four teams awarded at-large bids.
Mingione has now led Kentucky to the tournament four times in nine seasons as head coach, but this will be the first time in Mingione’s tenure Kentucky has reached the tournament without also earning a hosting bid for the first weekend. Kentucky has advanced to the super-regional round in each of Mingione’s three previous tournament appearances, including the last two years. Last season, Mingione led the Wildcats to the program’s first College World Series berth.
Kentucky will be considered a long shot to even advance to the second weekend of the 2025 tournament, let alone return to Omaha, but the Wildcats have shown the ability to compete with elite teams.
UK led at some point in 28 of 31 games against SEC foes this year. Of Kentucky’s 17 regular season SEC losses, 11 came by two or one run.
In April, Kentucky won two of three games at Tennessee, which was ranked No. 2 nationally at the time and was awarded the No. 14 overall seed in the tournament. Kentucky swept Oklahoma, ranked No. 14 nationally at the time, in the final home series of the regular season.
Only a handful of key contributors from the 2024 College World Series team returned this season, but a host of young players have emerged as the season progressed.
SEC All-Freshman Team shortstop Tyler Bell, the highest-drafted player in 2024 to play college baseball this season, is batting .306 with 10 home runs. Fellow freshman infielder Ryan Schwartz tallied just two at-bats before April 18 but has been a force in the lineup since, hitting .333 in 19 games. Sophomore left-handed pitcher Ben Cleaver, who pitched just 6 1/3 innings last season, emerged as the ace with a 6-3 record, 3.39 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 77 innings.
Kentucky is one of four Bluegrass State teams in the field. Western Kentucky (No. 3 seed) and Murray State (No. 4 seed) were placed in the Ole Miss Regional. Louisville is the No. 2 seed in the Vanderbilt Regional.
The NCAA Tournament bid triggered a one-year automatic extension clause in Mingione’s contract. His contract now runs through the 2030 season, when he will be paid $1.975 million.
Clemson Regional schedule
Friday
Game 1: No. 3 seed Kentucky vs. No. 2 West Virginia, Noon (ESPNU)
Game 2: No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 South Carolina Upstate, 6 p.m. (ACC Network)
Saturday
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, Noon (TBA)
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m. (TBA)
Sunday
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, Noon (TBA)
Game 6: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 6 p.m. (TBA)
Monday (if necessary)
Game 6: Same teams as Game 6 (TBA)
This story was originally published May 26, 2025 at 12:47 PM.