Vintage: Ben Cleaver Delivers Seven Shutout Innings in Victory

Vintage Ben Cleaver arrived at the most opportune time for Kentucky in setting a dominant tone in a 9-2 victory over No. 24 Tennessee on a crisp night at Kentucky Proud Park.

UK improved to 28-15 overall and 10-12 in the Southeastern Conference.

Cleaver, who has battled himself all season in trying to find his 2025 form, returned from a two-week break from the weekend rotation, with his best outing of 2026. Sporting the buzzcut that has become a rallying cry for the Wildcats he twirled seven shutout innings as his offense battered Volunteers ace Tegan Kuhns.

While Cleaver was rediscovering himself on the mound the UK offense came through with the timely hits it has often lacked in an injury riddled season. Luke Lawrence lined a two-out single and came home on Ethan Hindle’s two-out home run in the third inning before Braxton Van Cleave continued his power surge with a three-run shot in the fifth. UK added three more in the seventh after Scott Campbell Jr. made a diving play with two men on base to end the top half.

UK also expects reinforcements to arrive on Saturday in the form of cleanup hitter Hudson Brown, who has been out since April 5 with an illness.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 28-15 on the season, 10-12 in SEC play.
  • UK is 18-5 at Kentucky Proud Park in 2026.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his 10th season at the helm and now owns a 321-207 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • Mingione is 123-136 in SEC games.
    • He is 70-57 in home SEC games overall, 58-48 at Kentucky Proud Park.
  • Mingione now is 12-13 vs. Tennessee.
  • Mingione is 39-34 teams from Tennessee.
• IF Luke Lawrence had a hit, an RBI SAC bunt and scored two runs.
  • He has 121 hits in his two-year career, moving him into a tie for 47th place on the all-time chart.
  • He has reached safely in 45 of his past 46 games.
• IF Tyler Bell has reached safely in 80 of 84 career games.
• IF Ethan Hindle was 2-for-4 with 3 R, 2 RBI, HBP, 2B and HR.
  • He was hit by the 36th pitch of his career.
  • He now is tied for 6th place with Keenan Wiley on the UK career list.
  • He had his 14^th multi-RBI game of the season.
• OF Braxton Van Cleave was 2-for-5 with a run and a three-run HR.
  • He now has three doubles and four home runs amongst his 10 career hits.
• C Owen Jenkins returned from injury and went 2-for-4 with a two-run single.
• OF Jayce Tharnish has a hit in 18 of his past 19 games.
  • He has reached safely in 21 consecutive games.
  • He finished 2-for-5 with a run and a double.
    • He now has 21 multi-hit games.
  • LHP Ben Cleaver had his best outing of the season.
    • 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 85 pitches

ON DECK

UK hosts Tennessee on Kentucky Derby Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. It will stream on SECN+ and the contest can be heard on UK Sports Network/630 WLAP.