UK selected as NCAA baseball regional host site; Cats face Ball State in 1st round

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - The Kentucky Wildcats baseball team (36-18) has officially punched a ticket to the NCAA Baseball Tournament after Lexington and UK’s Kentucky Proud Park was named one of 16 regional host sites.

Other host schools/cities (in the order they were announced):

• Auburn (Auburn, Al.)
• LSU (Baton Rouge, La.)
• Virginia (Charlottesville, Va.)
• Clemson (Clemson, S.C.)
• South Carolina (Columbia, S.C.)
• Coastal Carolina (Conway, S.C.)
• Miami (Coral Gables, Fl.)
• Arkansas (Fayetteville, Ar.)
• Florida (Gainesville, Fl.)
• Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tn.)
• Stanford (Stanford, Ca.)
• Oklahoma State (Stillwater, Ok.)
• Indiana State (Terre Haute, In.)
• Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Al.)
• Wake Forest (Winston-Salem, N.C.)

This will be the first time an NCAA Regional has been played at KPP (opened in 2019), but the third time in program history UK has been selected as a host. The Cats also hosted in 2006 and 2017, advancing to the Super Regional round in coach Nick Mingione’s first season in 2017.

The Cats were bounced in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Tuesday, falling to the Alabama Crimson Tide, 4-0. UK’s regular season campaign earned them a top five RPI, in part, due to playing the nation’s most difficult schedule, according to a press release.

UK started the season strong, but the SEC schedule was not kind to the Bat Cats down the stretch- they lost six of their last seven weekend series to end the regular season.

The full field of 64 will be announced Monday at noon. The teams will be placed in the 16 different four-team regions, with teams seeded one through four to compete in a double-elimination format.

The NCAA Baseball Tournament schedule is below:

• 2023 NCAA Baseball Lexington Regional - Kentucky Proud Park
  • Friday, June 2: Game 1 – Ball State vs. Kentucky – Noon – SEC Network Game 2 – Indiana vs. West Virginia – 7 p.m. – ESPN+
  • Saturday, June 3: Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 – 1 p.m. – TV TBD Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 – 7 p.m. – TV TBD
  • Sunday, June 4: Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 – 1 p.m. – TV TBD Game 6 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4 – 7 p.m. – TV TBD
  • Monday, June 5: (If Necessary) Game 7 – same teams as in Game 6 – 7 p.m. – TV TBD
• Super Regionals: June 9-12
• Men’s College World Series games begin: June 16
• Men’s College World Series finals: June 24

You can find ticket prices and more information here.

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