LEXINGTON — With his second pitch in the top of the fifth inning Saturday night, Trey Pooser plunked Mason Guerra. Pooser, Kentucky's starting pitcher, then committed another mistake: His throwing error allowed Guerra to advance to second. Two batters later, Pooser walked one of college baseball's most dangerous hitters, Oregon State's Travis Bazzana.
Bases loaded.
Just as quickly as Pooser got himself into the jam, however, he extricated himself from it, preventing the Beavers from scratching even one run across the plate in the fifth frame.
It was the only time Pooser broke much of a sweat all night, as he held Oregon State's lethal lineup in check while UK's offense flourished on its way to a dominant 10-0 victory in Game 1 of the NCAA Tournament's Lexington Super Regional at Kentucky Proud Park.
"Trey, I can't say it enough. He was magnificent," Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said of Pooser, who tossed seven innings of shutout ball, allowing one hit and ringing up eight strikeouts. "I don't know any other words. You guys can think of some."
Mingione, as he often does, went on to cite a number of defensive plays that sealed the shutout. But it started with his pitchers, first with Pooser, then with Jackson Nove, who came in and threw the final two innings in relief. He sat down all six batters he faced — four via strikeout.
Oregon State had been ferocious at the plate all season, ranking among the nation's top 10 in home runs, walks, on-base percentage and slugging percentage and averaging a Pac-12-best 8.7 runs per game.
Saturday was the first time, in their 60th game of the 2024 campaign, the Beavers failed to score.
"It was a special, special performance on the mound," Mingione said. "As good as we've had all year."
That wouldn't have been the case if Pooser hadn't risen to the occasion in the fifth.
After Bazzana trotted to first to clog the bases that inning, Pooser struck out Micah McDowell — who entered the game hitting .403 on the season — for Out 2. Pooser induced a groundout from Gavin Turley to force out Bazzana at second and bring the top half of the inning to a close.
"Just trusting my stuff," said Pooser, ruminating on how he refocused after his unforced error and unenviable bases-loaded situation. "I was trying to get a ground ball, trying to get a double play. Whatever I did, I was just focused on throwing strikes and filling up the zone."
The fifth was the lone instance Saturday in which Pooser, whose record improved to 7-1 this season, permitted multiple base runners in the same inning.
"That was the opportunity that we needed to put our foot down and stop the bleeding," Mingione said of keeping the Beavers off the board in the fifth, "and sure enough, (Pooser) did."
As he's done for much of the season, much to his teammates' delight.
"He is one of the best pitchers in the country that nobody knows about," said first baseman Ryan Nicholson, who swatted a two-run homer in the seventh inning. "He goes out there and he shoves, and he doesn't really talk about it. He's not a boastful guy. He's all about the team.
"He just goes out there with a smile on his face, and he goes and gets outs for the guys behind him."
Kentucky hitters tee off on Oregon State pitching staff
With Pooser frustrating yet another foe, the Wildcats' batsmen made life miserable for the Beavers' pitchers.
Oregon State ace Aiden May, who was undefeated (7-0) in 2024 prior to Saturday, saw the zero next to his name erased after giving up three runs (all earned) and seven hits. He was lifted in the middle of the sixth after allowing back-to-back singles to begin the inning.
"I'm not very happy with my performance," May said. "I think I made a lot of dumb mistake pitches, and they capitalized. They're a good team, and I shouldn't have made some of the pitches that I did. I wanted to stay in that ballgame, but it is what it is."
Asked to pinpoint specific miscues, May noted "a couple fastballs" that led to doubles as well as a slider where his timing was off.
"I thought it was a good pitch. ... I think he was sitting on it," May said, referring to Nicholson's second-inning double that kicked off the scoring Saturday, "and made a good swing."
When May headed toward the dugout at the end of his start, Kentucky (44-14) already held a 3-0 lead.
It only got worse for Oregon State (45-15) from there.
UK poured it on in the bottom of the seventh, plating seven runs as a frenzied crowd went delirious.
"That inning had legitimately everything that we like to do," Mingione said. "It had a home run. It had a bunt. It had stolen bases. It had wild pitches. It was everything."
Another first for Kentucky baseball program — with record crowd on hand
The Wildcats' 10-0 romp was their first win in an NCAA Super Regional game after losing their first four.
"It just means we're one step closer to where we want to be," Mingione said, alluding to the College World Series appearance that would materialize with only one more victory. "You don't do that without amazing players. I thought our coaches were great, (too)."
UK's maiden super-regional triumph occurred in front of a stadium packed to the gills: a single-game Kentucky Proud Park-record 7,441 fans were in attendance Saturday.
"I think their fans started cheering or something like that, so then (our fans) started the 'blue, white' (chant) and it just kept getting louder and louder," Pooser said. "Just helped push you. ... Like when we get an 0-2 (count) on a guy, whether you strike him out or not, they're still standing up for every pitch, clapping. It's awesome."
Nicholson echoed that sentiment.
"Defensively, it's huge.I think it's almost like having an extra defender out there," he said. "They really can flip momentum. ... Everyone is rowdy, and I think that momentum really helps fuel us to get some runs on the board offensively."
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
