Kentucky baseball beats Indiana in NCAA tournament rematch to force winner-take-all showdown

LEXINGTON, Ky. — With its back against the wall Sunday, Kentucky responded. And it did so in convincing fashion.

Entering Sunday on the brink of elimination in its NCAA tournament regional, UK clobbered Indiana 16-6 in the nightcap at Kentucky Proud Park. The win came hours after the Wildcats walloped West Virginia, 10-0, in a must-win game for both teams.

With Sunday night’s result, Kentucky and Indiana return to KPP on Monday at 6 p.m., with everything on the line: The winner advances to the Super Regionals; the loser’s season ends.

"Proud of our toughness," Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said. "... I've been saying it all year, and it was apparent today, really how tough these guys are."

The Wildcats (39-19), who fell to the Hoosiers 5-3 Saturday night, flipped the script in Sunday’s rematch.

Indiana struck first Saturday, taking a 1-0 lead. But UK — playing as the visitor in its own park — scored first Sunday, plating four runs in the top of the second inning, highlighted by Nolan McCarthy’s three-run homer. Indiana (43-19) cut its deficit in half in the third, countering with a home run of its own from Evan Goforth, to end the inning down 4-2.

Kentucky immediately pushed the advantage back to four (6-2) in the next frame thanks to a two-run double from Hunter Gilliam. The Wildcats never let up, scoring 10 of the game’s final 14 runs in a decisive victory.

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'There's a lot at stake here'

As the teams went through the postgame handshake line, Mingione exchanged words with Indiana assistant coach Derek Simmons. As Mingione extended his hand, Simmons did not return the favor. Mingione then went around Simmons to shake hands with IU volunteer assistant Zach Weatherford. Mingione walked away as Simmons continued talking, leading UK assistant Dan Roszel to step between them.

"Guys, there's a lot at stake here," Mingione said after. "We're all playing for a lot of really important things. And when you have a group of competitive coaches, players, that happens.

"So I give the umpires a lot of credit. I think they've done a great job handling and managing everything."

Added Indiana coach Jeff Mercer, "There (are) a lot of moving pieces. I don't want to get into it. But there's just a lot.

"We just have to have a discussion about keeping it on the field and being professionals. And we've done a really good job of that this year."

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'We feed off of it'

The Wildcats have ranked among the nation’s leaders in a painful category: players hit by pitches. They’ve shown why all weekend.

In four regional games, UK has had 21 batters hit by pitches. It had nine HBPs against Indiana in Sunday’s romp, just one off the single-game NCAA record it already shares. (Kentucky had 10 HBPs in a game against Monmouth in March 2010.)

Between Sunday's two games, Gilliam said UK players practiced getting hit by the ball.

"It's part of our game. And we feed off of it," he said. "There (are) grown men up in that locker room who aren't afraid — you could throw it 150 miles an hour and we've got dudes, I promise you, who will stand in there. It doesn't faze us. It fires up the boys and we love it."

McCarthy added, "If anyone was tired before that second game, they weren't after they got hit. We were ready to go."

Mercer said part of his hurlers' issues with command Sunday was that the Hoosiers "threw some guys today that haven't thrown a ton." As it went on, Mercer said he grew "tired of watching" the Wildcats continually take a base after yet another HBP.

"(Kentucky players) did a good job. They were on the plate today," Mercer said. "It was obviously a part of their plan, which is fine. That's what teams do. You make an adjustment and you go on and play."

Through Saturday’s action, UK had 115 HBPs this season, tied for seventh in Division I and second among SEC teams to LSU’s 122.

Senior centerfielder Jackson Gray is chasing history in the category: with another HBP Sunday night, he’s up to 23 on the season. That’s the second most in a single year by a Wildcat since the stat began being tracked in 1987; Tyler Howe was plunked 27 times in 2008.

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'We've got everything going for us'

Kentucky entered the Lexington Regional well off the pace, both in the SEC and nationally, in home runs: Its 45 home runs ranked last in the conference and 219th (among 295 teams) in Division I.

That didn’t matter Sunday, as the Wildcats' teed off on the Hoosiers’ pitching staff.

Kentucky had four homers from four different players: McCarthy, Gilliam, Devin Burkes and Ryan Waldschmidt.

But the Wildcats didn’t have trouble manufacturing other types of base knocks, either, as they collected 14 hits (including two doubles) in the 10-run win.

"We all know we can hit," McCarthy said. "We're a really good offense. We can do small ball and we can also leave the yard. I think we've got everything going for us."

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky vs Indiana baseball score: NCAA tournament Lexington Regional