Hard-Fought Series Ends in Mother’s Day Defeat

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A long, delay-filled weekend ended in an early Mother’s Day wake-up call that saw Kentucky battle until it ran out of gas late in its 9-6 defeat to No. 13 Florida on Sunday in the series finale.

UK now is 30-18 overall and 12-15 in the Southeastern Conference.

The Wildcats jumped on top with a run it the first inning before giving up three in the Gators’ half. However, with a pair of inning-ending double plays keeping things close UK took a 5-3 lead with a four-run fourth inning capped by Will Marcy’s three-run home run.

Florida answered right back again with a pair of two-run homers to reclaim a 7-5 advantage it would not relinquish. Having sat through more than seven hours of delays and returning to the ballpark seven hours after a heart-stopping victory Saturday night the Cats ran out of gas and managed only a Hudson Brown ninth inning home run the rest of the way.

NOTES

• Kentucky is 30-18 on the season, 12-15 in SEC play.
  • UK is 11-12 on the road in 2026.
  • UK is 5-7 vs. Top 25 opponents.
• UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his 10th season at the helm and now owns a 323-210 career record.
  • Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
  • Mingione is 125-139 in SEC games.
    • He is 52-83 in SEC road games in his career.
  • Mingione now is 9-17 vs. Florida.
• The Cats scored four runs in the 4^th inning, the 50^th time they’ve score three or more runs in an inning this season.
• IF Luke Lawrence went 1-for-3 with a run, RBI and SAC fly.
  • He has 127 hits in his two-year career, moving him into a tie for 44th place on the all-time chart.
    • He now has 249 career hits at the Division I level.
  • He has reached safely in 50 of his past 51 games.
  • He has 20 multi-hit games this season and 41 at Kentucky.
• UT Will Marcy hit a three-run home run.
• OF Jayce Tharnish has a hit in 22 of his past 24 games.
  • He has reached safely in 26 consecutive games.
  • He now has 23 multi-hit games this season.
  • He stole his 26^th and 27^th bases of the season, giving him the most in a season in the Mingione Era.
  • It’s the 10^th most in a season in UK history.

ON DECK

UK faces Northern Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday night on SECN+ and UK Sports Network.