Kentucky defeated No. 24 Tennessee 9-2 at Kentucky Proud Park, with Ben Cleaver delivering seven shutout innings on May 1. The Wildcats improved their record to 28-15 overall and moved to 10-12 in Southeastern Conference play.
Cleaver, who had been working to regain his form from the previous season, returned to the weekend rotation after a two-week break and delivered his best performance of the year. He allowed four hits, walked two batters, struck out four, and threw a total of 85 pitches during his outing.
The Kentucky offense supported Cleaver’s effort by scoring early and often against Tennessee’s starting pitcher Tegan Kuhns. Luke Lawrence contributed with a two-out single before Ethan Hindle hit a home run in the third inning. Braxton Van Cleave added a three-run homer in the fifth inning as part of Kentucky’s offensive surge. The Wildcats scored three more runs in the seventh inning following a key defensive play by Scott Campbell Jr., who ended the top half with a diving stop.
Head coach Nick Mingione is now in his tenth season leading Kentucky and holds a career record of 321-207. Mingione is recognized as the second-winningest coach in school history and has an SEC record of 123-136 overall, including a home SEC mark of 58-48 at Kentucky Proud Park.
Several players made notable contributions: Lawrence reached safely for the forty-fifth time in forty-six games; Tyler Bell has reached base safely in eighty out of eighty-four career games; Hindle was hit by pitch for the thirty-sixth time in his career and recorded his fourteenth multi-RBI game this season; Van Cleave collected another home run among ten career hits; Owen Jenkins returned from injury with two hits; Jayce Tharnish extended his streaks both for hitting safely (eighteen out of nineteen games) and reaching base (twenty-one consecutive games).
Looking ahead, Kentucky will host Tennessee again on Saturday at Kentucky Proud Park.
