Kentucky Baseball Suffers Back-to-Back Heartbreaks to Lose Final Series Against Vanderbilt

After picking up a massive sweep over Oklahoma at home and taking care of business against Northern Kentucky in its home finale, Kentucky baseball turned its attention toward its final regular season series of the year against Vanderbilt.

Heading into Hawkins Field in Nashville, Kentucky had all but certainly locked itself into the NCAA Tournament — something that was firmly in doubt after a string of bad losses — but was looking to stun the Commodores in the Volunteer State to prove itself as a serious threat and improve its seeding.

Seeming motivated on Thursday, Kentucky got off to a stellar start, scoring five runs in the first inning to take a strong lead over the ‘Dores with two home runs in the first frame from James McCoy and Carson Hansen.

Sure, the “Bat Cats” would concede a home run back to Vanderbilt in the third inning for two runs, but runs in the fourth and fifth made it 7-2 halfway through the contest.

Then, the Commodores got hot, homering and scoring three total runs in the bottom half of the inning to make it 7-5, but Kentucky locked down and kept the sixth, seventh and eighth innings completely scoreless, heading into the ninth inning with a two-run advantage.

This did include leaving the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, but a two-run cushion should have been enough to seal the deal in the ninth regardless.

With the Wildcats going down in order in the final inning, all attention turned to Simon Gregersen to seal the deal and take game one.

Gregersen gave up a walk to start the inning, but forced a ground out right after for the first out.

A hit-by-pitch brought the winning run to the plate and upped the pressure, but a strikeout put the Wildcats one out away from victory after leading for the entire contest.

Then it happened.

Vanderbilt sophomore Braden Holcomb stepped up to the plate and nailed a home run to left-center field, scoring three runs and walking things off in Nashville 8-7.

Back for game two, Kentucky didn’t have near the control over the game as it did the first go around, trailing 4-2 after one inning and entering the final inning with a 7-5 deficit for a truly full-circle opportunity.

In the top of the frame, Kentucky did what the Commodores had done the night prior, scoring three runs to lead 8-7 in a bit of irony so strong few could fail to recognize it.

But, alas, there was still more heartbreak in store for Nick Mingione and Kentucky.

With McCoy getting the first Commodore in the ninth inning to strikeout, things seemed primed for Kentucky to shake off the brutal game-one loss.

Then, once again, it happened.

Vanderbilt hit a double to bring the winning run to the plate and, just like a broken record, hit a walk-off home run to shatter the Wildcats for a second night in a row and win the series.

Kentucky will have another chance to win one in Nashville before heading into the new 16-team SEC Tournament in game three on Saturday, but for a team that had been riding high, two straight demoralizing losses right before the postseason are a worrying sign for any UK baseball fans.

Game three against Vanderbilt is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET from Hawkins Field in Nashville for UK’s final regular season game of 2025. The contest will air live on the SEC Network+.