Hindle Home Run, Jelkin Save Give Kentucky Top 10 Victory

Jaxon Jelkin has pitched two consecutive complete games. On Friday, he needed just two innings.

Kentucky closed out a 4-3 victory over No. 10 Arkansas at Kentucky Proud Park in the series opener, as Ethan Hindle’s first inning home run set the tone before Jelkin sealed the deal. UK now is 31-18 overall and 13-15 in the Southeastern Conference.

Hindle crushed a 3-2 pitch off Arkansas ace Hunter Dietz for a two-run, two-out shot in the first and the Wildcats added two more in the fourth before a much-maligned bullpen picked up six crucial innings between Tommy Skelding, Jack Sams and Jelkin.

The Cats earned their second victory over a Top 10 team this season and set themselves up for a potential series victory with a Senior Night on Saturday.

 NOTES

• Kentucky is 31-18 on the season, 13-15 in SEC play.
  • UK is 20-6 at Kentucky Proud Park in 2026.
  • UK is 6-7 vs. Top 25 opponents.
    • They are 2-2 vs. Top 10 opponents.
  • UK is 4-3 in May.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his 10th season at the helm and now owns a 324-210 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • Mingione is 126-139 in SEC games.
    • He is 72-58 in SEC home games in his career.
  • Mingione now is 5-9 vs. Arkansas.
• IF Tyler Bell went 1-for-3 with a run.
  • He now has reached in 85 of 90 career games.
  • He was hit by his team-leading 16^th pitch of the season.
• IF Ethan Hindle went 3-for-4 with two runs, two RBI and a home run.
  • It was his team-leading 11^th home run.
  • The three hits tied a career high.
    • He now has 14 multi-hit games this season.
  • He now has 15 multi-RBI games this season.
• OF Jayce Tharnish has a hit in 23 of his past 25 games.
  • He has reached safely in 27 consecutive games.
  • He stole his 28^th bases of the season.
  • It’s the 8^th most in a season in UK history.
• RHP Nate Harris pitched 3.0 hitless innings in his second start back after missing a month with an injury.
• RHP Jaxon Jelkin picked up the save, his first.

ON DECK

UK hosts Arkansas on Senior Night at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday night on SECN+ and UK Sports Network.