Western Kentucky starter Jack Bennett commits to Kentucky

The junior righthander, a lifelong Kentucky fan, committed to Kentucky on Friday night.

Photo courtesy of WKU Athletics.

A lifelong Kentucky fan has made his commitment to the Wildcats.

Jack Bennett, a two-year starter in Western Kentucky’s rotation, told Bat Cats Central that he committed to Kentucky’s coaching staff on Friday night. Bennett, a righthander, just completed his junior season with the Hilltoppers by going 7-1 over 14 starts with a 3.13 earned run average and 49 strikeouts in 63.1 innings.

“Being a hometown kid, growing up in Kentucky, I’ve always been a UK fan,” Bennett said. “I basically came out of the womb bleeding blue. It’s always been a dream school of mine to go to, much less play baseball for. I want to make the program better and try to get to Omaha and win a College World Series.”

A native of Paducah, Bennett was the 2022 Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year and helped lead McCracken County High School to state runner-up as a senior. At WKU, Bennett has appeared in 55 games in his career and made 28 starts. He’s steadily gotten better each season, improving from a 5.66 ERA as a sophomore to 3.13 as a junior. He held opposing hitters to a .252 average this season as the Friday night starter.

He throws a cutter, sinker and slider, but he said his best pitch so far in college has been his changeup.

“My sophomore season is where I started to really feel comfortable and confident with that pitch,” Bennett said. “It’s kinda been my best pitch ever since then. I’ve thrived using it. It’s been my out pitch.”

Bennett, whose parents are from Kentucky and his dad graduated from UK, said the coaching staff at Kentucky sees him as a veteran who can come in and win a spot in the rotation.

“The main sell was that I’m the starter type,” Bennett said. “I started for two years at Western Kentucky. They said they want me to come here and be in the rotation and that they’ll continue to develop me and not only make me a better pitcher, but a better person.”

Bennett is draft-eligible this summer. He said he’s all-in on Kentucky unless an opportunity that’s too good to pass up happens during July’s draft. With Bennett’s commitment, the Wildcats now have three commitments in the transfer portal. Bennett joins righthanded pitchers Kaden Echeman (Northern Kentucky) and Burkley Bounds (Eastern Kentucky) as pitching commitments in the portal class.