Kentucky baseball shuts out Ball State in NCAA Tournament opener

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - In front of a boisterous home crowd on a Friday afternoon, Kentucky opened NCAA Regional play with a 4-0 win over Ball State.

Sophomore catcher Devin Burkes provided the early fireworks with a solo home run in the 4th inning to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Kentucky’s subsequent three runs would come in the 8th inning—the first on a wild pitch and the next two on an RBI single by Emilien Pitre.

On the mound, Kentucky was dominant. Travis Smith got the start for UK. He gave up three hits in four scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Reliever Mason Moore came in in the fifth inning and retired all fourteen batters he faced.

With the win, Kentucky advances to the winners’ bracket to face either Indiana or West Virginia. The game is scheduled to be played Saturday at 6 p.m.