Kentucky Displays Its Fight But Comeback Falls Short

Kentucky displayed its signature fight on Sunday and once again had the potential winning run at the plate in the ninth inning before falling 10-9 to No. 24 Tennessee at Kentucky Proud Park.

UK improved to 29-16 overall and 11-13 in the Southeastern Conference after winning the series two games to one.

The Cats fell behind 7-1 entering their final three at bats, rallied to within a run, fell behind by four entering the ninth and then saw home runs from Tyler Bell and Braxton Van Cleave cut that to 10-9. A runner reached first with one out but could not advance further.

Despite the defeat it was a good weekend for the Cats, who outscored Tennessee 30-14 and got 15 innings of two-run baseball from starters Ben Cleaver and Jaxon Jelkin. Van Cleave and fellow freshman Caeden Cloud both had big weekends, as did Tyler Bell, and Hudson Brown and Owen Jenkins returned to the lineup.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 29-16 on the season, 11-13 in SEC play.
  • UK is 19-6 at Kentucky Proud Park in 2026.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his 10th season at the helm and now owns a 322-208 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • Mingione is 124-137 in SEC games.
    • He is 71-58 in home SEC games overall, 59-49 at Kentucky Proud Park.
  • Mingione now is 13-14 vs. Tennessee.
  • Mingione is 40-35 teams from Tennessee.
• The Cats scored four runs in the seventh inning and three in the ninth.
  • UK has scored three or more runs in an inning 48 times this season.
    • It has done it seven times in the series.
• IF Luke Lawrence went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
  • He has 123 hits in his two-year career, moving him into tie with Chris Wade for 46th place on the all-time chart.
  • He has reached safely in 47 of his past 48 games.
• IF Tyler Bell went 3-for-4 with three runs, two RBI, a double, a walk and a home run.
  • He has reached safely in 82 of 86 career games.
  • He homered in back-to-back games this weekend, once from each side of the plate.
• IF Ethan Hindle went 2-for-3 with a run, an RBI and two walks.
• IF Caeden Cloud went 1-for-4 with an RBI double.
• OF Braxton Van Cleave went 3-for-5 with a run, three RBI and a home run.
  • The hits are a career high.
  • He had multiple hits in all three games in the series.
  • He came into the series with one in his career.
• OF Jayce Tharnish has a hit in 19 of his past 21 games.
  • He has reached safely in 23 consecutive games.
  • He has 22 multi-hit games this season.

ON DECK

UK travels to Florida next weekend.