Kentucky's 2026 season ended on Monday night in the Morgantown Regional. It's been a newsy week since. Here are four Kentucky baseball thoughts that I have from the week.
First: The 'what if' of the Morgantown Regional
Kentucky, a controversial pick to some to even make the field, won its first two games in the Morgantown Regional. When the Wildcats took a 7-6 lead in the fourth inning of Sunday's regional final, a stunning result in Westwood went final. UCLA, the No.1 overall seed in this year's field, had been eliminated, meaning the winner of the Morgantown Regional would face either Cal Poly, whose RPI was in the 60s, or Saint Mary's, which had an RPI in the 100s.
More importantly, if Kentucky won, it would likely have hosted the super regional at Kentucky Proud Park and therefore would have been a favorite to return to the College World Series for the second time in three years.
For eight innings, it looked pretty good for the Wildcats. Everyone who cares enough to read this newsletter knows what happened in that turbulent ninth inning. It provided a dramatic college baseball scene for neutral observers, but those involved in the game on the Kentucky side – either as coaches, players and even fans – will have a hard time moving past what could have been. A three-run lead with three outs to go is a scenario you'd take every time. That it went so sideways and led to a five-run West Virginia inning in an 11-9 victory will live in infamy of Kentucky baseball's history.
But I was impressed with the lasting impression this team made in defeat on Monday night. Trailing 5-1 in the eighth inning, Kentucky scored four runs with two outs. Tyler Bell and Luke Lawrence started the rally with two singles, then Hudson Brown launched the longest home run of the Morgantown Regional – his second homer of the game – to make it 5-4. Ethan Hindle worked the count and then hit a solo homer just over the left field fence. Suddenly, it felt like Kentucky could return the favor on a late-game collapse. But in a game with wild swings, West Virginia wound up walking off the Cats in the 10th inning on an Armani Guzman single to send the Mountaineers to the super regionals for the second straight season.
Here's one last gut punch: West Virginia outscored Cal Poly 29-3 in two games to advance to Omaha for the first time in program history. We'll never know what would've happened had the Wildcats held on in Morgantown, but my guess is Kentucky's season would still be alive today.
Second: What the transfer portal departures tell us so far
Kentucky has 11 players in the transfer portal so far, and I'm expecting at least a couple of more pitchers to be added to this list.
Derek Terry is the founder of Bat Cats Central, a leading source for Kentucky baseball coverage. Before leaving full-time sportswriting, Derek worked for The Cats' Pause (2017-22) and Cats Illustrated (2015-17), and interned with D1baseball.com.
Four Kentucky baseball thoughts from this week
It was a busy week for Kentucky baseball, and the news won't be slowing down any time soon. Here are some thoughts from the week.
Kentucky's 2026 season ended on Monday night in the Morgantown Regional. It's been a newsy week since. Here are four Kentucky baseball thoughts that I have from the week.
First: The 'what if' of the Morgantown Regional
Kentucky, a controversial pick to some to even make the field, won its first two games in the Morgantown Regional. When the Wildcats took a 7-6 lead in the fourth inning of Sunday's regional final, a stunning result in Westwood went final. UCLA, the No.1 overall seed in this year's field, had been eliminated, meaning the winner of the Morgantown Regional would face either Cal Poly, whose RPI was in the 60s, or Saint Mary's, which had an RPI in the 100s.
More importantly, if Kentucky won, it would likely have hosted the super regional at Kentucky Proud Park and therefore would have been a favorite to return to the College World Series for the second time in three years.
For eight innings, it looked pretty good for the Wildcats. Everyone who cares enough to read this newsletter knows what happened in that turbulent ninth inning. It provided a dramatic college baseball scene for neutral observers, but those involved in the game on the Kentucky side – either as coaches, players and even fans – will have a hard time moving past what could have been. A three-run lead with three outs to go is a scenario you'd take every time. That it went so sideways and led to a five-run West Virginia inning in an 11-9 victory will live in infamy of Kentucky baseball's history.
But I was impressed with the lasting impression this team made in defeat on Monday night. Trailing 5-1 in the eighth inning, Kentucky scored four runs with two outs. Tyler Bell and Luke Lawrence started the rally with two singles, then Hudson Brown launched the longest home run of the Morgantown Regional – his second homer of the game – to make it 5-4. Ethan Hindle worked the count and then hit a solo homer just over the left field fence. Suddenly, it felt like Kentucky could return the favor on a late-game collapse. But in a game with wild swings, West Virginia wound up walking off the Cats in the 10th inning on an Armani Guzman single to send the Mountaineers to the super regionals for the second straight season.
Here's one last gut punch: West Virginia outscored Cal Poly 29-3 in two games to advance to Omaha for the first time in program history. We'll never know what would've happened had the Wildcats held on in Morgantown, but my guess is Kentucky's season would still be alive today.
Second: What the transfer portal departures tell us so far
Kentucky has 11 players in the transfer portal so far, and I'm expecting at least a couple of more pitchers to be added to this list.
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Derek Terry
Derek Terry is the founder of Bat Cats Central, a leading source for Kentucky baseball coverage. Before leaving full-time sportswriting, Derek worked for The Cats' Pause (2017-22) and Cats Illustrated (2015-17), and interned with D1baseball.com.