OMAHA, Neb. – This is becoming the Walk-Off World Series.
Mitchell Daly lined a two-out homer to left in the bottom of the 10th as second-seeded Kentucky outlasted No. 10 NC State 5-4 on Saturday afternoon in Game 3 of the 2024 College World Series for its first walk-off win of the season.
“What a game,” UK head coach Nick Mingione said. “Just two teams duking it out and taking advantage of opportunities. And just so thankful for our players and our fans.”
For the first time in CWS history, the first three games were walk-off victories.
“The energy around this place is special,” Daly said. “To give the fans endings like that, it’s pretty awesome.”
The Wildcats (46-14) will face the winner of third-seeded Texas A&M and Florida on Monday, June 17 at 6 p.m. CT. The Wolfpack (38-22) meets the loser in an elimination game on Monday at 1 p.m. CT.
NC State took its first lead in the top of the ninth. Garrett Pennington drew a leadoff walk and went to third on a one-out single by Jacob Cozart. Pennington scored on a wild pitch to give the Pack a 4-3 edge.
“I think both teams played well today,” NCSU head coach Elliott Avent said, “and we got that big run in the ninth and thought with the way [Jacob] Dudan had been throwing we were in good shape, especially on a day where the ball wasn’t carrying very well.”
UK quickly answered in the bottom of the frame as Ryan Nicholson homered down the left field line, his 22nd long ball of the season, to level the score at 4-4. Nolan McCarthy singled and pinch-runner Ty Crittenberger was sacrificed to second. Grant Smith grounded out to third and Crittenberger streaked to third on the throw to first. He was called safe and a review confirmed the call. Following a walk to Ryan Waldschmidt, Emilien Pitre hit into a 1-6-3 groundout to send the game to the 10th.
Crittenberger made a diving catch in center to start the top of the 10th and Johnny Hummel fanned the next two hitters to keep NC State off the scoreboard.
Devin Burkes drew a leadoff walk for UK in the bottom of the 10th. With one away, Burkes was thrown out at second on a failed hit-and-run. Daly put a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left to give the Wildcats a win in their first CWS contest.
“I was just trying to back the ball up,” Daly said. “I was just trying to see the slider up. I saw it up and I just went for it.”
The Wolfpack stranded a pair in the top of the first before the Wildcats got their offense going in the bottom of the frame. Pitre had a one-out double on the 12th pitch of his at-bat. He went to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on a single to center by Nick Lopez as UK took the early lead.
NC State responded in the third. Pennington had a leadoff single, went to second on a groundout and scored on a one-out base hit by Cozart to level the score at 1-1.
The Cats would break the deadlock in the fourth. Nicholson had a leadoff single and McCarthy followed with a homer to left, his eighth, that landed in the UK bullpen to make it 3-1.
Alex Makarewicz belted a two-run homer to right center with two away in the top of the seventh as the Wolfpack tied it at 3-3.
Nicholson went 3 for 4 with a homer and two runs for the Cats.
Cozart had three hits, while Pennington had two hits and two runs for the Wolfpack.
Hummel went 1.2 hitless innings with one walk and two strikeouts to improve to 4-0.
Notes
Kentucky is the 118th different school to reach the CWS. Since 1956, the only team to win a title in its CWS debut was Coastal Carolina in 2016.
This is the second time in CWS history that the first three games were decided by one run. The first time happened a season ago in 2023.
The Wildcats had four leadoff walks and none scored.
The SEC is 2-0 against the ACC in this year’s CWS.