UK baseball to host 2023 NCAA Tournament regional at Kentucky Proud Park
Kentucky baseball’s five-year NCAA Tournament drought has ended with a bang.
The Wildcats were named one of 16 regional hosts for the first weekend of the tournament Sunday. When the full bracket was revealed Monday afternoon, Kentucky was seeded 12th overall. The Wildcats will host Ball State in their opening game. The other two teams in the pod are Indiana and West Virginia.
The winner of the Lexington Regional will be paired with the winner of the Baton Rouge Regional featuring LSU, Tulane, Sam Houston State and Oregon State in a super regional.
“It’s just been a process,” head coach Nick Mingione said of the path back to postseason play. “We’ve been close. ... I wanted it so bad for those other teams. Two out of the last three years we’ve been one or two wins away. We hadn’t been able to get over the hump. I put a lot of that on me, to try to put them in a better position, to schedule. Ultimately you have to go out and execute. This team has done that.”
Kentucky will play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017 and 10th time ever. The Wildcats will host a regional for just the third time in program history. Kentucky has advanced through the regional round just once (2017) since the current tournament format was adopted in 1999.
This tournament will mark the first time Kentucky has hosted a regional since Kentucky Proud Park opened in 2019.
“That’s why you invest $49 million into this beautiful stadium, to host postseason events,” Mingione said.
Facing pressure to end the tournament drought after another near miss a year ago, Mingione rebuilt his roster by making heavy use of the transfer portal this offseason. Lacking elite power hitters while playing in a home stadium that emphasizes run prevention, Mingione went all in on an offensive philosophy he described as “total chaos” that made heavy use of taking an extra base whenever possible.
Kentucky won 25 of its first 28 games, rocketing into the top 10 of the national rankings after a sweep of Missouri during the first weekend of April. The Wildcats then stumbled, dropping six of the final seven SEC series but the decision to build the non-conference schedule around quality mid-major teams paid off with the nation’s No. 1-ranked strength of schedule.
Despite dropping its SEC Tournament opener to Alabama, Kentucky entered Selection Monday ranked No. 2 in the RPI.
Reaching the NCAA Tournament qualifies Mingione for a $25,000 bonus. That bonus would increase to $100,000 if Kentucky advances to a super regional, $150,000 if it reaches the College World Series and $200,000 if it wins a national championship.
Asked about any sense of personal validation resulting from a return to postseason play in a season that started with no shortage of outside pressure, Mingione instead deferred credit to his players and Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart.
“Someone asked Thomas Edison one time what it felt like to fail 10,000 times when he was trying to invent the light bulb,” Mingione said. “His answer was I never failed one time. It just happened to be a 10,000-step process. That’s how I feel about here.”
Kentucky was one of eight teams from the Southeastern Conference to be assigned a regional host site, joined by Auburn, LSU, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Vanderbilt and Alabama. On Monday, Tennessee and Texas A&M also qualified for the field of 64 as road teams. Half of the top eight national seeds came from the league. Kentucky also played five non-conference games against teams in the field, going 5-0 against Indiana State, Indiana and Xavier.
The other eight host schools are Virginia, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Miami (Fla.), Stanford, Oklahoma State, Indiana State and Wake Forest.
Each regional field features four teams, playing in a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday through Monday.
A year after Ole Miss won a national championship after entering the SEC Tournament as the league’s No. 9 seed, Mingione and Kentucky are not putting a cap on postseason expectations.
“If you’re an athlete in the SEC, especially the older guys we have, you don’t get complacent,” super senior pitcher Darren Williams said. “We don’t want to just be here. We want to win this thing.”
How to buy tickets to the Lexington Regional
Games in the Lexington Regional will start on Friday. Kentucky will face Ball State at noon. Indiana and West Virginia will square off at 7 p.m.
Advanced requests from season ticket holders for NCAA regional tickets have been fulfilled. Confirmation emails were to be sent Monday.
All-session tickets for the general public will go on sale Tuesday at 9 a.m. at UKBaseballTix.com. And tickets remaining for single games will go on sale Thursday at 9 a.m. Fans can also call the UK ticket office at 800-928-2287, selecting option four, to purchase tickets.
▪ All-Session Reserved Seats (Sections 101-111), $90
▪ All-Session General Admission*, $60
▪ Single-Session Reserved Seats, $15, based on availability
▪ Single-Session General Admission*, $10, based on availability
*General admission areas will include the right- and left-field terraces, grass berms, and outfield standing room areas. Fans can bring their own lawn chairs and blankets for these areas. There are no fixed seats in the general admission areas.
NCAA Tournament Lexington Regional
When: Friday through Monday
Where: Kentucky Proud Park
Tickets: UKBaseballTix.com
Teams: Kentucky, Ball State, Indiana, West Virginia.
Format: Double-elimination
At stake: Winner advances to NCAA Tournament’s 16-team super-regional round next week.
Lexington Regional schedule
Friday
Game 1: Kentucky vs. Ball State, Noon (SEC Network)
Game 2: Indiana vs. West Virginia, 7 p.m. (ESPN Plus)
Saturday
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1 p.m. (TV TBA)
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 7 p.m. (TV TBA)
Sunday:
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m. (TV TBA)
Game 6: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 7 p.m. (TV TBA)
Monday (if necessary):
Game 7: Same teams as in Game 6, 7 p.m. (TV TBA)
