After rolling through their Regional and Super Regional rounds, Kentucky looked to open up their College World Series experience with a win. The Wildcat lineup persevered after a late rally from NC State, and a Mitchell Daly home run in extra innings would win the game for Kentucky, while keeping the walk-off streak in the 2024 CWS alive with three consecutive games ending with a walk-off.
This was an incredibly back and forth game until the end. Kentucky opened up the game with an RBI single from Nick Lopez, but 2024 MLB Draft prospect Jacob Cozart would knot the game up at 1-1 in the third with an RBI single of his own.
The Wildcats and Wolfpack would then trade a pair of two-run home runs across the fourth and seventh innings. Nolan McCarthy for Kentucky gave them a 3-1 lead before Alec Makarewicz tied it up with one of his own in the seventh.
Makarewicz’s game tying home run seemed to rattle the Wildcats, as they were doing uncharacteristic things like dropping foul balls and not communicating with each other to make plays.
The Wildcats went into the ninth inning down 4-3, before Ryan Nicholson drilled one over the left field wall for a game-tying home run on the first pitch of the inning. The Wildcats would continue to threaten the Wolfpack, but a great play from the infield saved the game.
After a scoreless frame from Kentucky in the 10th, they looked to walk it off in the bottom half. The walk-off streak would continue on, as Mitchell Daly would hit a laser over the left field wall to give the Wildcat faithful their first win in College World Series history.
