Vanderbilt Uses Second Chance, Timely Hitting to Claim Series

A hard-fought, suspenseful series turned into a finale decided on timely hitting as Vanderbilt defeated Kentucky 13-6 on Sunday at Kentucky Proud Park.

UK dropped to 26-12 overall and 8-10 in the Southeastern Conference.

The Cats left 16 runners on base, including the bases loaded in each of the first two innings, as the recent struggles with situational hitting appeared again. The Cats had traffic on the bases all afternoon by drawing 11 walks and four hit by pitch but only two hits until the eighth inning.

Still, UK lead 3-1 going to the back half of the game in large part because Connor Mattison, pitching in place of a dinged up Nate Harris, kept the Commodores off balance through five terrific innings. But an HBP to open the sixth was followed by a tying home run.

After a walk and another HBP, Nile Adcock recorded a strike out that should have ended the inning but it squirted away and allowed the batter to reach base. Will Hampton, who was a late addition to the lineup, blasted a full count grand slam to make it 7-3.

UK, as it had all series, fought back to within one after eight innings before a six-run ninth by Vanderbilt put things out of reach.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 26-12 on the season, 8-10 in SEC play.
  • UK is 17-5 at Kentucky Proud Park in 2026.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his 10th season at the helm and now owns a 319-204 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • Mingione is 121-134 in SEC games.
    • He is 69-57 in home SEC games overall, 57-48 at Kentucky Proud Park.
  • Mingione now is 8-20 vs. Vanderbilt.
  • Mingione is 38-34 vs. teams from Tennessee.
• UK played without star IF Tyler Bell, who served a one-game suspension after being ejected on Saturday.
• UK left 16 runners on base.
  • It was 3-of-17 with runners in scoring position.
  • It was 0-for-3 with the bases loaded and left the bases loaded in each of the first two innings.
• UK drew 11 walks and was hit by four pitches.
• IF Ethan Hindle went 0-for-3 with a run, RBI, sacrifice bunt and two HBP.
  • He now has 33 career HBP, tying Braden Kapteyn (2009-11) for eighth on the career chart.
  • It is the eighth time in his career he’s been hit by multiple pitches in a game.
• OF Scott Campbell Jr. had two hits and two RBI.

ON DECK

UK travels to Louisville on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET. The game is on the ACC Network and the contest can be heard on UK Sports Network/630 WLAP.