On a beautiful cloudless day at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky, the Kentucky Wildcats would welcome Ball State for the Lexington Regional opening game. Ball State, winners of the 2023 MAC Conference Tournament, would come into the Kentucky game on Friday morning not afraid of the Wildcats.

For Ball State, a matchup with Kentucky in the Lexington Regional is an opportunity for the Cardinals to play in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in program history, the first since 2006. While others complained, Ball State made no excuses, and the Cardinals were happy to be there. Ball State carried that carefree style into the game with Kentucky on Friday. Despite giving up a solo blast, Ball State kept the game with Kentucky within reach behind an impressive outing from Trennor O’Donnell. O’Donnell went seven full innings before being pulled in the top half of the 8th with one out and a Kentucky runner on first. Trennor O’Donnell finished the game with five strikeouts, four hits, and only one run. O’Donnell received a standing ovation from the Kentucky Wildcat faithful at Kentucky Proud Park. Sam Klein came in for relief but ended up blowing the game for the Cardinals giving up three runs in the bottom half of the 8th inning, giving Kentucky a 4-0 lead over Ball State heading to the 9th inning.

Kentucky would score one run on Friday behind the solo home run from Devin Burkes, who blasted a moonshot to deep right field in the bottom half of the 4th inning to give the Wildcats the 1-0 advantage over Ball State. Kentucky would add some insurance runs in the bottom half of the 8th inning, breaking the Ball State dam.

Friday’s 4-0 shutout win over Ball State was the first time in school history that Kentucky Baseball won an NCAA Tournament Regional game with a shutout.

With three outs remaining, and a 4-0 lead, the Kentucky fans at Kentucky Proud Park would get on their feet to push the Wildcats past the finish line in the Opening game of the 2023 Lexington Regional. The 4-0 win over Ball State wasn’t pretty for Kentucky, but a win to open the NCAA Tournament is exactly what the Wildcats needed to gain momentum heading into Saturday. Kentucky will await the second-game winner of Indiana and West Virginia on Saturday in the winners’ bracket game. Ball State will play the loser on Saturday morning in an elimination game.