Kentucky baseball (31-25, 13-17 SEC) blew out Clemson (45-17, 18-12 ACC) 16-4 to move on in the Clemson Regional.
The 16-run outburst tied the most runs ever scored by Kentucky in an NCAA Tournament game.
Both teams came into this elimination game 1-1 in the regional as Kentucky lost its first game against West Virginia before beating USC Upstate in an elimination game yesterday.
The Tigers took down USC Upstate in their first game before falling to West Virginia in their second game to set the stage for the clash with the Wildcats.
Freshman Nate Harris took the mound first as Kentucky was the home team for this elimination game and he got off to a great start by striking out Cam Cannarella.
However, things began to unravel for the right-hander as two walks and a single loaded the bases.
Harris spiked a pitch which allowed a run to score and a groundout brought home another run, which gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Clemson also sent a freshman to the hill as Talan Bell took the ball on his home mound. Like Harris, the nerves were showing a bit as Bell hit Tyler Bell and James McCoy to bring up Carson Hansen who singled to center and easily scored Bell.
However, that was not all as the Tigers could not handle the throw and the ball went all over the backstop and ended up in the Kentucky dugout, which allowed McCoy to score and tie the game 2-2 after one.
Harris settled down over the next two innings as he pitched two scoreless frames in the second and third.
Clemson gifted Kentucky the lead as Hage took a wild trip around the bases that started with an infield single that advanced him to second on a throwing error. The senior moved to third on a botched pickoff attempt and scored on a wild pitch to give the Bat Cats the lead.
While that sequence was going on, Bell drew a walk and moved to second on the wild pitch that scored Hage. Carson Hansen singled to score Bell.
Patrick Herrera was up next, and he drew a walk, but a passed ball on ball four allowed McCoy to score.
Ryan Schwartz singled to bring home Herrera and Hasen, which extended the newfound Kentucky lead to 7-2.
Harris gave up a leadoff single to Jack Crighton to start the fourth and he ended up scoring on three wild pitches from the right-hander in the inning.
However, the Bat Cats got the run right back as Devin Burkes singled and scored on a Luke Lawrence double. Hage traded places with Lawrence with a double of his own to extend the lead.
After Hage moved to third on a Bell single, McCoy drove him home on a sacrifice fly. Three consecutive singles brought home two more runs for Kentucky before an error capped off a six-run frame for Kentucky that extended the lead to 13-3.
The Bat Cats continued to pour it on in the sixth as a Hudson Brown double plated Herrera and Schwartz.
The Tigers added a run in the seventh to result in the 16-4 score.
The Wildcats scored 16 runs on 13 hits and took advantage of seven Clemson errors. The Bat Cats were also expectational with runners in scoring position as the team was 8-14, which is a .571 average.
Kentucky will now need to beat West Virginia at 6 p.m. tonight and again tomorrow to keep its season alive.
