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Brown: UK baseball aims to avoid first-time flameout at College World Series

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Brown: UK baseball aims to avoid first-time flameout at College World Series


Kentucky baseball embarks on a difficult task as a first-time participant in the College World Series on Saturday. Omaha hasn’t been so kind to first-timers in the recent past. 

The Wildcats aim to be an exception.

“It feels like we’ve really kicked the door down now,” said UK outfielder Nolan McCarthy after the Super Regional series-clinching win against Oregon State on Sunday. “We have unfinished business. It feels amazing to be the first ones.”

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Since 2000, 17 schools did not advance to the finals in their first appearance in Omaha, including seven teams that promptly dropped their first two games and were eliminated.

(In Louisville’s inaugural appearance in 2007, it lost to No. 2 seed Rice, beat Mississippi State in an elimination game, then was knocked out of the CWS by No. 3 seed North Carolina.) 

TCU was the only notable team among those 17, winning three games in 2010 and finishing just shy of the finals losing an elimination game to UCLA.

And then there was Coastal Carolina. 

The Chanticleers made it 18 teams since 2000 who reached the CWS for the first time. They made good on their first and only appearance in Omaha in 2016 by taking down Arizona to win the national title.

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The Cats could duplicate Coastal’s improbable run as a newcomer to the biggest stage in college baseball, but it wouldn’t be considered much of a surprise.

Kentucky earned its No. 2 national seed. 

Most first-time teams pulled off some kind of upset to get to Omaha. Of the previous teams to make the CWS for the first time this century, only Nebraska (8) in 2001 and Vanderbilt (6) and Tulane (5) in 2011 were national seeds.

While the Cats haven’t been a perennial baseball power, they have played like it this season. So the allure of just getting there, which leads to some teams undoing, won’t be a factor for the Cats.

This is a veteran team.

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Redshirt sophomore James McCoy is the youngest player in terms of eligibility who is a regular starter. And everyone else who is a mainstay in the lineup has at least three years of experience. 

The same goes for its starting rotation of pitchers. Trey Pooser and Dominic Niman are both graduate students. And Mason Moore is a junior.

The Cats embody the “get old, stay old” mantra shared by many coaches in college sports.  

UK won the Southeastern Conference regular-season title in a year the league sent a record 11 teams into the NCAA Tournament and placed four teams in the CWS along with the Atlantic Coast Conference. In winning a school-record 22 league games, UK won a program-record 11 of those on the road. 

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None of this was a surprise in Lexington. The Cats simply lived up to the expectations they set for themselves.

Pitcher Cameron O’Brien, a graduate transfer from Campbell, said during his recruitment coach Nick Mingione told him they could “do something that’s never been done.”

“So to sit here and be doing something that’s never been done before is pretty awesome,” O’Brien said. “And we’re definitely not done yet.”

Kentucky’s pitching staff only ranks fifth in earned run average among the eight teams competing in Omaha. Its overall hitting doesn’t jump out either, as its .287 batting average ranks seventh, above only Florida of remaining teams.

But what the Cats do have, and Mingione is banking on, is a group that pushes each other to be great. The team ranks in the top 25 nationally in doubles, total stolen bases, sacrifice bunts, hits allowed and fielding percentage.

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“The strength of our team is our team,” he said. 

Kentucky accomplished a lot of firsts this season, be it “first-ever” or “first in a long time,” just to get to Omaha. The Cats have one more first to check off the list.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.





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Kentucky football spring game offers early look at Will Stein’s Cats

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Kentucky football spring game offers early look at Will Stein’s Cats


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LEXINGTON — Kentucky football had its first spring game under new coach Will Stein at Kroger Field on Saturday.

The offense, in blue jerseys, had its moments. So too the defense, donning white uniforms.

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Ultimately, the blue squad earned a 23-18 victory in a game called just after noon because of inclement weather.

Stein admitted he “got emotional” as he charged onto the field prior to kickoff.

“I know it wasn’t a real game, but when I ran on the field, I definitely — man, I felt it,” he said. “It was like a wave running over me. And very, very, just cool.”

While it doesn’t count in the standings, Stein walked away pleased.

“I think we got a lot of really good work,” he said. “That’s the goal of spring is to improve with fundamentals and technique, learn how to practice, learn what winning edges that we need throughout spring to go into summer and fall and prepare the team for play. And we came out of the scrimmage clean. There (were) no injuries, which to me, that’s the biggest win of the day. I could (not) care less about the score.

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“If we come out clean, that’s good. The Wildcats won.”

New starting QB Kenny Minchey looked about as expected, with sharp passes evened out by moments of inconsistency. Martels Carter Jr., a defensive back who is lining up at running back this spring, scored a touchdown and had several nice runs.

And the defense forced multiple three-and-outs and also picked off one Minchey pass on a two-point conversion.

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This story will be updated.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.



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Kentucky has reportedly moved on from top-10 transfer Paulius Murauskas

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Kentucky has reportedly moved on from top-10 transfer Paulius Murauskas


NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament First Round-Texas A&M at Saint Marys

Mar 19, 2026; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Saint Mary’s (CA) Gaels forward Paulius Murauskas (23) takes a shot during a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images



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Kentucky gets some potentially good news concerning Donnie Freeman

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Kentucky gets some potentially good news concerning Donnie Freeman


Time is of the essence if you’re Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats right now. With the transfer portal set to close in just a few days, chaos reigns as programs and players scramble to secure their next opportunities. Among the fray is Kentucky, which finds itself navigating a tumultuous landscape in search of elite talent. With many of the Top 25 players already committed, the urgency for the Wildcats to land a game-changing recruit has never been more at the forefront following this season.

One of Pope’s primary targets is Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman. The 6-foot-9 rising junior made waves during his time at Syracuse, averaging 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting an impressive 47.4 percent from the field last season. His potential is undeniable; many experts predict Freeman will be a future first-round NBA draft pick, making him a coveted asset for any program.



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