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Kentucky natives Travis Smith and Mason Moore produced just the third shutout by Kentucky baseball in NCAA Tournament history and the first in 74 years Friday in a 4-0 win over Ball State.
Smith, a redshirt freshman, worked into the fifth inning before giving way to Moore, who did not allow a hit the rest of the way to give Kentucky (37-18) the win.
UK catcher Devin Burkes’ line shot home run the opposite way to open the fourth inning was enough scoring for the win but UK tacked on three runs in the eighth in front of 4,935 fans.
Here is part of what coach Nick Mingione and his players said after the win:
COACH MINGIONE: I’m so thankful for the fans. Want to thank them first and foremost for coming out. Awesome crowd! And I also want to say how amazing their starter, O’Donnell, was. We have a really good lineup. And I thought he did a great job. A lot of credit goes to Coach Maloney. He’s one of the premiere coaches in all of college baseball. He had his team ready. Travis Smith, what an outing for him. Got us going. They had some traffic in the first. His ability to work his way through that I thought was big moving forward. The job that Mason did after that was just incredible. I also want to compliment Devin. I thought that home run was a huge play in the ball game. I think our guys took a deep breath and we went after it after that. Then obviously we were able to push some runs across in the fourth — I mean in the eighth, to get us three runs to get us to four. Overall great game by both teams. I loved the way we defended. We talk about pitching and defense all the time. And we got that from Devin all around with our infielders, outfielders. It was a well-played game for the Cats.
Q. Seemed like most of the game there was — most of the game was, seemed like a pitchers’ duel. Was (indiscernible) the changing up speeds, (indiscernible) throwing off speeds and stuff going out of balance. (Indiscernible)?
DEVIN BURKES: Yes, sir. He did a great job. He was throwing a lot of pitches for strikes. I wouldn’t say it kept us on our heels, but I feel like it definitely, like, slowed us down a little bit. We actually had to navigate at-bats really good. He did really good. Props to him, man.
Q. Devin, what did you see in that at-bat that you hit the home run? Did you think you got enough of it? And breaking the tie, how big?
DEVIN BURKES: Honestly, man, I was trying to put the ball in play. I think I was lead-off that inning, so I was just trying to get on base for the guys. I know I got it pretty good. And it went out.
Q. Mason, you were getting through the inning so quickly with so few pitches. What was working for you?
MASON MOORE: I think throwing both pitches for strikes, curveball and fastball. We knew their attack, we knew they would be up there swinging. I new coming in I’d have to attack the strike zone. And I trust my defense a lot. We make plays, so I knew from the beginning if I just attacked the zone and let them swing that we’d make the plays and get outs.
Q. Travis, what were you seeing these first few innings? I know Ball State had competitive at-bats, had some base runners on, but you made the big pitch to get out of the inning several times.
TRAVIS SMITH: Saw they were going in swing mode early. They weren’t really taking pitches and they were fighting off two strikes. So just driving it down the strike zone and just let the defense work, and I got out of it.
Q. Mason, the crowd got louder and louder as the game went on when you were locking down the eighth inning. The adrenaline, what was that like for you? You really held it down late in the game.
MASON MOORE: Nice to have a crowd (indiscernible) showed out today. It just shows that they support us in everything we do. It’s nice to have the crowd show out for us. Gives us confidence in ourselves. And going out there in the eighth inning, I knew I had a job, one inning at a time. Having the crowd behind me I was getting a little tired, but having the crowd got me through the last couple of innings.
Q. Did you tell Coach you had to go back out there in the 9th?
MASON MOORE: I told Coach Roszel, can I go back out. And he was, like, yeah, you got it. I was, like, all right. I knew I had one job, and the crowd and the defense helped me out in the last inning.
COACH MINGIONE: There was no way I was taking him out of the game. Some of those sinkers he was throwing were dive bombing. It was incredible.
Q. You never really know when the key moment’s going to be in the game. He thought that first inning Travis battling, get through that and (indiscernible) would be key.
COACH MINGIONE: And give them credit. They came out and immediately ran a hit-and-run. And the guy got the ball in play, bounced it over Gillie’s head.
And the great pitchers, they have another gear and another level. And they have the ability to make the pitch when the game demands it. That’s exactly what Travis did. He got the line out and immediately followed up with a punch-out.
And I thought it sent a statement that — and I told the team that. At that moment Travis was saying no, you’re not scoring. Like they had their opportunity there and then for him to go out and give us four shutout innings this is a guy that started as our mid-week starter. And I said this in the in-game interview, I really believe no moment is too big for him.
And for us to hand the ball to a redshirt freshman in this environment, with everything on the line, but there’s no moment too big for him. And I tell you what, our players love playing behind him. They love Travis Smith. They love the way he goes on the attack. He has SEC Friday night starter stuff, and they love playing him behind.
When it came time and we watched and we evaluated all the teams, it just became apparent that we had to go with him. And sometimes you like it when the players prove you right. But he was phenomenal.
Q. Travis, when did you know you were going to be the starter today? And what does it mean to hear that phrase and also know to be the trusted guy to set the tone for this tournament?
TRAVIS SMITH: I found out Wednesday during practice. I threw a bullpen on Tuesday — a lot of people threw a bullpen on Tuesday. Just want to thank Coach for believing in me and Coach Roszel for giving me the rock. And tried to show out for them.
Q. Mason, how long did you expect to pitch today when you went in there knowing that the Regional is important (indiscernible)?
MASON MOORE: From the beginning in the bullpen I expected to go two or three. I had my stuff today. I had the confidence. And the guys behind me were making plays.
They kept riding me. And I’m glad that they had that confidence to keep putting me out there. When they do that just gives me confidence to go out there, and perform the best I can for the team.
Q. Throwing again?
MASON MOORE: Yeah, I can throw again this weekend.
Q. Devin, your guys were pushing to be a Regional host almost all year, really. Finally, get there. You had some anxious moments down the stretch. You get there and then you deliver the first win in the history of this ballpark. What does that mean to you guys’ big picture?
DEVIN BURKES: Man, it means a lot. We’re doing things here, we’ve never done it before since I’ve been at Kentucky. It just gives us all the confidence in the world. It’s just a blessing. It’s a blessing.
Q. How much does the fact that the guys in 2017 help you? I know you know the history of the program but is that any inspiration to you?
DEVIN BURKES: That was a great team. We have a lot of those guys come back and actually show love to us and tell us what to expect from this environment. And it really helps us, really helps us navigate different situations and things like that. So just really good.
Q. Devin, obviously you guys still had to come back out in the top of the ninth and close out the deal. But how good did that eighth inning feel, after such a close battle, to get those three runs?
DEVIN BURKES: Felt great. We were just clawing, trying to push runs across. Like I said, that starter was really good. He did really good today.
But it felt great. We actually — I just felt the whole team just relax and just kind of stay focused but just kind of be like, okay, we got it.
Q. I know your job is not done but for you guys to get one postseason win under your belt knowing the nerves were going into today, do you feel you could breathe a sigh of relief a little bit?
MASON MOORE: I think getting this first win is good for us. We haven’t ever hosted a Regional here with this team. And getting that first win, getting out there, getting our reps in, it just gives us the confidence to go out there and want to keep playing better for the team and the coaches.
And the crowd helps out a lot too. All in all, it just gives us all the confidence in the world to keep going out there keep winning.
Q. I know this goes without saying but only having to burn two arms in this game, Mason didn’t even throw as many pitches as you expected in the five innings. How does that help moving forward the next couple of days?
COACH MINGIONE: You know this better than anybody, the strength of our team is the amount of guys we can use as starters or out of the bullpen. And anytime, this is — you can play as many as five games or as many as three. So the fact that we used two guys — and even for Mason to throw 50 pitches in five innings, that’s incredible.
When you start doing the math, he’s averaging, what, 10 pitches an inning, if I do my math right. He’s got 10 pitches an inning. It’s obviously big.
We got Mag hot but he didn’t come in the game. So really we used two arms and got one guy ready to go.
