LEXINGTON — It started as a laugher. But it turned into a nail-biter.
Kentucky was cruising along after four innings, scoring the first eight runs of Friday's game in the NCAA Tournament Lexington Regional. But Western Michigan refused to go down without putting up a fight, plating eight of the next 10 runs to draw within two.
But the Wildcats, the No. 2 overall seed in this year's tournament, turned back the rally to protect their home field and earn a 10-8 victory at Kentucky Proud Park.
"They had their chances. Give them credit. They put a lot of pressure on us," Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said, referring to Western Michigan. "But I give our guys credit. We bent, but we didn't break."
With the win, Kentucky (41-14) clinches a spot in Saturday's second game, which will start at 6 p.m. In that contest, UK will face Illinois, which defeated Indiana State on Friday night.
Kentucky has its offense to thank for avoiding a loss to Western Michigan (32-22).
The Wildcats pushed a run across the plate in each of the first five innings, with two runs in both the second and fifth frames and four in the third. Eight of Kentucky's nine starting batsmen notched hits — shortstop Grant Smith, who is ninth in the order, went 0 for 1 but recorded an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the third — and of that group, five tallied multi-hit performances. Devin Burkes, Mitchell Daly, Nolan McCarthy, James McCoy and Émilien Pitre had two base knocks apiece; both of Daly's hits were doubles.
"I think any time you have that kind of production up and down the lineup, it obviously makes us hard to beat," Mingione said. "And we were able to do it all: We hit bunts, bombs, ran the bases, stole bases — got thrown out a couple times being aggressive, but we were in the full-on attack (mode). We drew walks, got hit by pitches and hit on a lot of cylinders offensively."
McCoy launched a two-run homer in the second, the only long ball for either side Friday.
While that was his most notable highlight, it was hardly the only thing McCoy did Friday. It was a long time coming for the Florida native, who entered on a prolonged, three-week slump. He went 3 for 4 in a 12-11 win at Florida on May 10.
Then he went 0 for the rest of May ... until Friday.
After failing to scratch out a hit in 21 at-bats after that victory over the Gators, McCoy broke out against the Broncos.
His final line: 2 for 3, two hits (he had a double to go along with his HR), three RBIs and two runs.
McCoy chalked up his success to a recent session with Mingione, spending three hours in the batting cage with the coach and the coach's son, Reeves Mingione.
"Baseball is all about adjustments," McCoy said. "Just having the feel with your swing and figuring out those adjustments and what's working."
2 innings mar otherwise stellar outing for Kentucky pitchers
UK starting pitcher Dominic Niman was nearly untouchable through the first four frames. As proof: Western Michigan had just one hit, half the number of its left-on-base total (two), at that point. And in the final three innings, the Broncos couldn't come up with any answers for the Wildcats' pitching.
But it was the fifth and sixth innings that vexed UK's hurlers, as Western Michigan combined to score all eight of its runs in those two frames. Seven of the visitors' nine hits came in those back-to-back innings, too.
"They did score in two innings, but they didn't score in the other seven," Mingione said, "and I thought that was the difference in the game."
Dominic Niman got the nod. Robert Hogan got the save. Where does that leave UK's pitching staff heading into Saturday?
Giving Niman the nod over normal Friday starter Trey Pooser was a risk by Mingione. But the gamble paid off, as Pooser is now in line to toe the rubber Saturday night.
Niman was dominant during the first four innings. Then the fifth arrived, and everything unraveled.
He walked two batters. He hit another. And the Broncos strung together three singles. When Niman trotted toward the dugout, he departed with the bases loaded and no outs.
Despite how the start ended, he preferred to focus on how it began.
"I just look at the positive of it," said Niman, who took a no-decision after going four innings, giving up five runs (all earned), four hits and three walks while collecting four strikeouts. "There's one bad inning. Just a couple of unlucky hits that went in their favor. But besides that, I felt really good about today."
Mingione wasn't complaining about the effort, either.
"I thought Dom gave us a great start," Mingione said. "He went four shutout (innings) to start. And then give them a lot of credit: (Western Michigan) started putting balls in play with two strikes. They just flipped the balls, hit it really, quite frankly, where we weren't. ... But I thought Dom, he got us a lot of big outs."
So did Robert Hogan.
The junior from Minnesota, who transferred to UK after two seasons at Texas A&M, picked up the save — a long one, at that. Hogan went 3 ⅓ innings of two-hit ball, permitting no runs and striking out four of the 15 batters he faced. More than 60% — 62%, to be exact — of his 50 pitches were strikes (31 called).
"That was the biggest thing: just being able to throw every pitch for a strike," Hogan said. "That keeps the hitters off balance."
Mingione and his teammates raved about him after the win, focusing more on Hogan the person than Hogan the pitcher. After a recent team chapel, Mingione asked his players a simple question.
Who is a player on this team you know would do anything for you?
"And the team, immediately, (said), 'Hogey. He'll do anything for me,'" Mingione said. "He's one of those guys (who) ... he'll do anything for them. And it's pretty impressive, pretty impressive. They love him.
"They love each other, but, boy, do they love that guy."
Hogan said the Wildcats working in so many pitchers Friday — Cameron O'Brien (one inning) and Evan Byers (⅔ inning) also saw time on the mound — leaves them in a good place going forward.
"It saves arms for this weekend. Now we have a lot of guys for tomorrow," Hogan said. "And it's just something where we can all build off that. We can all build off of each other. We know we trust everyone who gets the ball."
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
