Tharnish's Speed Lifts Cats in Ninth Inning
Kentucky outfielder Jayce Tharnish has showed his elite speed all season. The junior has stolen 31 bases on the season, but none more important than the two he stole on Friday in Kentucky’s 6-5 win over Wake Forest in the first game of the 2026 NCAA Baseball Morgantown Regional.
With the game tied at five in the ninth, Tharnish reached base on an opposite field single. After Tyler Bell struck out, Tharnish stole second and then stole third without a throw as Tyler Cerny fouled off four pitches. With Cerny facing a 2-2 count, Wake pitcher Will Ray uncorked a wild pitch to the backstop, allowing Tharnish to score what proved to be the winning run.
GO GET IT, JT!!!!!@JayceTharnish runs a country (roads) mile and ends the 7th!
E7 | UK 5, WF 4 pic.twitter.com/ovrjqTNSJu
— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) May 29, 2026
Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter talked about his team’s approach in the ninth inning with the speedy Tharnish on the basepaths.
“We had two strikes on a hitter with a good matchup,” Walter said. “It was one of those things where, you know, we weren’t going to make a throw and throw a ball into left field there, you know, obviously we’re not planning against a wild pitch. So I didn’t have, especially where (third baseman Carson) Wentz was playing, I didn’t have a problem with us letting him get to third base there with two strikes. That’s a good matchup for (graduate right-handed pitcher) Will Ray, and you know, he makes a better pitch than that, you know, 99 times out of 100.”
After the game, UK head coach Nick Mingione talked about how his team was able to get runs on the board even though it wasn’t the Cats’ best hitting day.
”There’s six components to offense, and the definition of a good offense — I love definitions and I love acronyms — but the definition of a good offense is your ability to score runs when you’re not hitting,” Mingione said. “That’s a good offense, and we have a good offense. We were able to score runs when we weren’t really hitting.”
The Cats have the ability to score runs in a variety of ways, as they have shown all season. In the ninth inning of Friday’s win, it was the speed of Tharnish that gave UK the lead and, ultimately, the win against Wake Forest.
