LEXINGTON —Perhaps it's only appropriate Kentucky, a team that prides itself on heads-up playmaking and dominating the base paths, earned its first College World Series berth thanks to one of the greatest displays of base running ever seen. Doubly so given the circ*mstances.
UK center fielder Nolan McCarthy capitalized on Oregon State pitcher Nelson Keljo falling asleep at the wheel after a wild pitch in the top of the seventh inning Sunday night. McCarthy scored from second base for the go-ahead —and NCAA Tournament Super Regional-clinching —run to give the Wildcats a 3-2 victory in a game that ended after midnight Monday at Kentucky Proud Park. Coupled with its 10-0 win in Game 1, Kentucky (45-14) sealed a sweep of the super regional, moving on to Omaha, Nebraska, where the CWS begins Friday.
UK coach Nick Mingione praised McCarthy's intuition on the game-winning run.
"The fact that he felt comfortable enough in his own skin to do that? I'm good with that, I'm good with that," Mingione said. "When we attack, that is us at our best."
McCarthy joked he might have run "through a stop sign" Mingione posted at third base. But it worked out.
"No one was covering home," McCarthy said, "so might as well take what they're going to give you."
Mingione clarified: He never signaled for McCarthy to hold at third —the coach merely verbalized it. By then, McCarthy already was headed toward home.
"But the game was in front of him, and I'm happy he went, because he saw something," Mingione said, "and we allow our players to make decisions on their own."
Oregon State coach Mitch Canham said he never spoke with Keljo about the game-changing oversight.
"I think we know when the ball gets by, you have to go cover home," Canham said. "He just did not —had a little brain fart or something on that moment. And it was loud enough that you couldn't say, 'Hey, cover home.'"
Canham downplayed its significance. He didn't believe it decided the game. He added that it's "silly to pinpoint one play" in any contest as the be-all, end-all.
Yet with his team failing to manufacture offense of any sort —the Beavers (45-16) finished with only two hits, not recording their first base knock until the seventh inning —on this cool Kentucky night, Kelso's lapse loomed large.
And their best scoring opportunity was minimized by the Wildcats' star reliever, Cameron O'Brien. After starting pitcher Mason Moore walked in a pair of runs (the first he'd ever allowed in 23 ⅔ innings of work in his NCAA Tournament career) to knot the game at 2-all in the fourth inning, he gave the ball to O'Brien. With the bases loaded and only one out, Oregon State had a chance to surge ahead.
O'Brien quickly squelched those hopes, however, notching back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning, with the hosts —the Beavers were the home team in Game 2 —stranding three men on base.
"Cam has been our fireman. He (threw) the ball as good as he's thrown," Mingione said of the transfer from Campbell, who was credited with the win (improving to 3-0 in 2024) after tossing three innings of shutout ball, striking out five of the 10 hitters he faced.
After O'Brien departed with one out and a runner aboard in the top of the seventh, Robert Hogan toed the rubber and threw 2 ⅓ scoreless innings. Hogan exited with the Wildcats needing only one more out to put away the Beavers for good.
"We all have really good stuff, everyone up and down the staff," Hogan said. "And being able to throw it in there for a strike makes it 10 times easier."
Ryan Hagenow took over for Hogan. But Hagenow's outing was brief: He faced just one batter, with Oregon State superstar Travis Bazzana —who might be the top overall pick in this year's MLB draft —singling to right field to put runners on the corners, the tying run just 90 feet away from home plate.
Enter Johnny Hummel.
A graduate student who joined UK prior to this season as a transfer from Division II Erskine College in South Carolina, Hummel ended the game with flair, striking out Micah McDowell —he of the near-.400 batting average in 2024 entering Sunday's game —on three pitches.
Precisely as assistant coach (and former UK All-American) Austin Cousino predicted while Hummel was warming up.
"He's like, 'Coach, you told me that that guy for the last year, at the school he was at (Erskine), he pitched with the game on the line. Every time (his former) coach gave him the ball, it was his job to hold it and stop it,'" said Mingione, recalling his conversation with Cousino in the bottom of the ninth. "I said, 'Yeah, I do remember that.' (Cousino) goes, 'He's going to get this done right here. He's going to get it done.' ... And sure enough, we did."
In doing so, Kentucky became the seventh team to secure its place in this year's College World Series, joining fellow SEC clubs Florida, Tennessee and Texas A&M and ACC representatives Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia.
The way the Wildcats got there — exemplified by McCarthy's derring-do on the base paths in the seventh, true to the program identity of remaining aggressive at all times, never backing down — was a fairytale ending in Mingione's book.
"That was just a beautiful way for us to go to Omaha: a guy attacking," Mingione said. "Maybe you can just show the Superman picture of him flying right through there. That would be a cool pic. 'Cats on the attack.'"
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
