One Strike Away From Victory, Kentucky Falls to No. 9 Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE – One strike away from another Top 10 victory, Kentucky suffered perhaps the biggest gut punch in a season full of narrow defeats as No. 9 Vanderbilt walked off the Wildcats with a three-run home run for an 8-7 victory at Hawkins Field.

Going back to its last visit to the Commodores’ home field, UK now has suffered back-to-back devastating walk-off losses to Vanderbilt in Nashville.

This one likely stings a bit more as the Cats (29-21, 13-15 Southeastern Conference) twice led by five runs, including 5-0 before Vanderbilt came to the plate for the first time. But a leadoff walk in the ninth inning and a two-strike hit by pitch put two runners on for Braden Holcomb, who connected for a no-doubt winner down to his final strike with two outs.

The ending spoiled what had been a feel good game for UK, which got first inning home runs from a revitalized James McCoy and Carson Hansen, a RBI single from Raphael Pelletier and career outing from Jackson Nove.

But UK failed to get an insurance run home with bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh inning, helping set the stage for the most recent Vanderbilt magic.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 29-21 (13-15 SEC) on the season.
• Each of UK’s last two defeats at Hawkins Field have come in walk-off fashion when leading entering the ninth inning.
• UK has held a lead in 25 of 28 SEC games.
• UK now is 10-11 vs. ranked teams and owns 11 Quad 1 victories.
• UK was hit by six pitches on the day and now have been hit 142 times in 2025.
  • UK has had a player hit by multiple pitches in a game 15 times this season, including two on Thursday (Patrick Herrera and Ryan Schwartz).
  • It entered the weekend ranked second nationally.
  • UK set a new single-season school record for HBP.
  • The last three seasons now are the top three in school history and have totaled 391.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his ninth season at the helm and now owns a 291-187 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • UK is 52-51 in the month of May under Coach Mingione.
  • Mingione now is 7-16 vs. Vanderbilt
• INF Tyler Bell singled to extend his reached base safely to 22 consecutive games.
  • He has reached in 49 of 50 career games.
• UT James McCoy went 1-for-3 with a run, 3 Rbi, a walk and HBP.
  • He hit his second home run of the season, a three-run opposite field shot in the first inning.
• UT Ryan Schwartz has a 16-game reached safely streak.
  • He has a hit in 14 of the 16 straight games he’s reached base.
  • He also was hit by two pitches.
• OF Cole Hage had two doubles, an RBI and stolen base.
• LHP Jackson Nove pitched 4.0 shutout innings, allowing two hits, two walks and striking out five.
  • He threw a career-high 66 pitches.

 ON DECK

UK faces No. 9 Vanderbilt again on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET/6 CT on SECN+. Radio will air on the UK Sports Network.