Ad Disclosure
Kentucky earned its best-ever NCAA Tournament seed on Monday when it was named the No. 2 national seed. The Wildcats, hosting an NCAA Regional for the second season in a row, will welcome Indiana State, Illinois, and Western Michigan to Kentucky Proud Park beginning on Friday.
This postseason will mark the first time in school history Kentucky’s baseball program has reached the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons. The co-champs of the SEC in the regular season are 1 of 5 SEC squads among the top 8 national seeds.
Kentucky will open against Western Michigan at Noon Eastern on Friday. Indiana State and Illinois battle in the evening slot.
Kentucky is seeking its first College World Series appearance in program history. Illinois has also never made a CWS. Indiana State made it to Omaha in 1986. Western Michigan has 6 CWS appearances to its name, but none since 1963.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Lexington Regional
4 Western Michigan — 32-21 overall, 19-11 MAC
RPI: 128 | Quad 1: 0-1 | Quad 2: 3-4 | Quad 3: 6-6 | Quad 4: 22-10
The Broncos rolled through the MAC Conference Tournament, beating Ball State, Bowling Green, and Ball State again by a combined margin of 29-3. WMU has won 9 of its last 11 games, with 6 of those winnings coming by at least 8 runs and 5 of those wins featuring shutouts.
Western Michigan, whose 32 season wins are the most for the program since 1993, have been utterly dominant on the mound. The Broncos have 7 shutouts this season, tied for the second-most in the nation. The Broncos have the best ERA in the MAC and the second-best batting average against.
WMU was also the best hitting team in the MAC, with a .316 batting average. Cade Sullivan (.397) and C.J. Richmond (.384) finished first and second in hitting in the league while outfielder Dylan Nevar led the league in RBI with 68.
At the conference tournament, WMU’s pitching staff limited opponents to a .179 batting average while recording 30 strikeouts to just 3 walks across 3 games.
3 Illinois — 34-19 overall, 18-6 Big Ten
RPI: 48 | Quad 1: 4-10 | Quad 2: 5-2 | Quad 3: 9-4 | Quad 4: 16-3
The Illini won their first outright Big Ten regular-season title since 2015 this season. But they lost 2 of 3 at the Big Ten Tournament to bow out early. Illinois is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019 and its 13th overall in school history.
An opening-day matchup with Indiana State also provides a rubber match between the 2 after a home-and-home in the regular season. The Sycamores won 7-6 on March 12 in the first meeting. On April 30, the Illini put up 21 runs at home to win 21-11 in 7 innings.
Despite a disappointing showing at the conference tournament, Illinois has been on a tear this season and should be entering regional action with plenty of confidence. After the first game against Indiana State, Illinois was sitting at 5-10, losers of 4 straight. They’d been swept by Tennessee in a weekend series just days earlier, including a 24-1 loss on March 9.
Since then, the Illini are 29-10.
Illinois hit a program record 103 home runs during the regular season, with junior outfielder Ryan Moerman tying for the Big Ten lead at 18. Drake Westcott (16) tied for fourth in the conference while Jacob Schroeder (14), Vytas Valincius (12), and Brody Harding (10) all cleared double digits as well.
2 Indiana State — 42-13 overall, 22-5 Missouri Valley
RPI: 10 | Quad 1: 3-6 | Quad 2: 7-2 | Quad 3: 19-4 | Quad 4: 13-1
Among the 2-seeds, only Wake Forest had a better RPI. The Sycamores went 16-2 at home and 8-2 in neutral-site games. They beat Indiana 15-7 on March 19 and beat Purdue 8-7 a week later. They also won 9-3 at Purdue on April 9. Indiana State lost a 20-4 game to Vanderbilt in Nashville on Feb. 27, and it lost 2-of-3 against Southern Miss that following weekend.
ISU is making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in 5 seasons. They won a regional last season but lost in 2 games to TCU at the Fort Worth Super Regional.
Right-handed junior Brennyn Cutts was named the MVC’s Pitcher of the Year after posting a 6-1 record in 15 starts. He had an ERA of 3.89 with 70 strikeouts and 59 hits allowed in 74 innings of work. He led the MVC in opposing batting average at just .217.
Righty Luke Hayden also drew 15 starts with a 7-2 record and an ERA of 3.67. He threw 84 strikeouts in 73.2 innings of work while giving up 70 hits. His punchouts ranked third in the MVC. Simon Gregersen, another righty, finished fourth in the MVC with 7 saves.
Luis Hernandez led the league in hits (86) and RBI (75) while placing third in batting average (.369). Mike Sears (.737) was second in slugging percentage. Sears also led the Missouri Valley in home runs (23) while Hernandez finished just 1 off the league lead. Hernandez did, however, ground into more double plays (8) than all but 1 other player in the MVC this season.
Related: Want to bet on the Wildcats this postseason? Kentucky is +1000 to win the College World Series, holding the third-shortest odds of any team on the board. Head to DraftKings to get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,500 when you sign up.
Schedule for the Lexington Regional (all times ET)
Friday, May 31
- Game 1 – 1 Kentucky vs. 4 Western Michigan, Noon (SEC Network)
- Game 2 – 2 Indiana State vs. 3 Illinois, 7 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, June 1
- Game 3 – Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, Noon (TBD)
- Game 4 – Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 6 p.m. (TBD)
Sunday, June 2
- Game 5 – Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, Noon (TBD)
- Game 6 – Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 4, 6 p.m. (TBD)
Monday, June 3
- Game 7 (if necessary) – Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, TBD (TBD)
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
