NCAA Baseball Lexington Regional: Kentucky 10, Western Michigan 8

Second-seeded Kentucky built an 8-0 lead and held off Western Michigan 10-8 on Friday in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Baseball Lexington Regional at Kentucky Proud Park.

Outfielder James McCoy had a two-run home run and an RBI double for Kentucky. Eight different Wildcats had a hit in the game and seven different UK players knocked in a run.

Kentucky (41-14) scored a run in the first, two in the second and four in the third to build an early lead. Meanwhile, UK starting pitcher Dominic Niman kept the Broncos off the board until the fifth inning, when WMU scored runs on three infield singles, a walk with the bases loaded and a groundout to make it 8-5.

In the bottom of the fifth, Kentucky got two runs back on a Ryan Waldschmidt sacrifice fly and an Emilien Pitre single through the right side.

Western Michigan (32-22) got even closer in the sixth, scoring three times, including a two-run double from C.J. Richmond that got the Broncos within two, 10-8.

From there, Kentucky relief pitcher Robert Hogan came in to slam the door. The right-hander pitched 3.1 innings, allowing no runs, two hits and two walks while striking out four. Hogan picked up his first save of the year in the process.

Kentucky advances to Saturday’s winner’s bracket game, where the Cats will face the winner of Friday night’s Indiana State-Illinois game at 6 p.m. Western Michigan will face the loser of Friday’s second game at noon on Saturday in an elimination contest.