The Kentucky Wildcats narrowly made the NCAA Tournament as one of the last four teams in, drawing the ire of many around the sport who said the Cats didn’t belong.
On Friday, 3-seed Kentucky managed to silence some of those doubters with a thrilling 6-5 win over 2-seed Wake Forest in the opening round of the Morgantown Regional.
The Bat Cats quickly found themselves in a 3-0 hole before scoring five unanswered runs in the top of the fifth and sixth innings to take a 5-3 lead.
However, the Demon Deacons
would respond with a pair of solo home runs in the bottom of the sixth and eighth innings to tie the game.
That’s when junior outfielder Jayce Tharnish would save the day for the Cats.
After belting a single in the top of the ninth, Tharnish then stole second and third base before scoring on a wild pitch to put the Cats up 6-5. Jackson Soucie would secure the win in the bottom of the ninth to put Kentucky in the winner’s bracket of the regional.
Up next, Kentucky will face the winner of today’s 1-seed West Virginia vs. 4-seed Birmingham matchup on Saturday at 5 PM ET.
