No. 18 Kentucky baseball (3-0) took command over the UNC-Greensboro Spartans (0-3), sweeping and outscoring them 34-11 over three games.

The Wildcats started the year on the road and got off on the right foot, from pitching to discipline in the batter’s box.

On Friday night, senior Jaxon Jelkin got his first start for the Wildcats after a season-ending Tommy John surgery that restricted him from the entire season in 2025.

He was everything the Big Blue Nation hoped for as he went four innings, allowing just two hits and then striking out ten of the fourteen batters he faced.

He showed off pure dominance and aggression on the mound to  Kentucky fans, proving why he will be in talks of becoming the ace pitcher for the remainder of this season.

On top of Jelkin’s stellar performance, the amount of run support the Wildcats provided for their pitcher was just enough for a 13-2 victory Friday night.

The Wildcats at the plate knocked 14 hits and weren’t afraid to back away as they wore six hit-by-pitches.

Senior transfer Tyler Cerny, who set Indiana baseball’s program record for hit-by-pitches with 45, wore two pitches to get his season off strong.

Jayce Tarnish and Owen Jenkins led the team with three hits a piece, and Jenkins started his year off with a triple through the left center gap that made it 3-0.

The bats struck a nerve in the top of the third inning as they poured it on UNC-Greensboro by putting up eight runs in the inning alone.

Two of the six hit-by-pitches came in the third, which drove in two runs and set the lineup back to the top of the order for senior second-baseman Luke Lawrence.

Lawrence would then belt a long grand slam, the first home run for the Wildcats of the season, jumping the score to 11-0.

Staying calm for the rest of the game, Kentucky’s relief pitching would strike out ten more, giving them a total of 20 on the evening.

However, late in the game, preseason All-American shortstop Tyler Bell suffered a shoulder injury that will put him out of baseball indefinitely after diving for a ball in the field.

A true blow for this Wildcat infield, but with the extreme depth of the roster, it doesn’t count them out whatsoever.

Sunday’s game was moved to a Saturday doubleheader because of the incoming weather, and it allowed for even more Wildcat domination.

In game one of the doubleheader, sophomore Ryan Schwartz and senior Alex Duffey led the hitting in the early slate.

Schwartz went a perfect 4-for-4 with three stolen bases, and Duffey went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and also three stolen bases.

A six-run in the top of the second quickly propelled the Wildcats on a path to victory, as Lawrence got the scoring started in the inning, and it ended with a Duffey two-run RBI single.

The Wildcats succeeded by playing small ball, capitalizing on UNCG errors and multiple sacrifice flies, to bring home a couple of runs.

There were no home runs in either of the Saturday games, just a bunch of singles, doubles and walks, with Kentucky getting on the base paths anyway they could.

On the mound, stud pitcher Ben Cleaver got his first go at it of the season, as head coach Nick Mingione limited all his starters to show off the depth the bullpen has.

Cleaver went four innings and struck out seven batters, and the relief pitching was once again great, including Burkley Bounds.

Bounds pitched two shutout innings to end the game, retiring six batters and five of them from strikeouts.

Kentucky pitching once again shut down the Spartans’ bats, adding to the total strikeouts on the weekend of 34 after tallying 14 as a group in game two.

The fun didn’t stop there as game three and the series finale followed shortly after the conclusion of the 11-3 victory in game two.

The love poured around the batting order even more on Valentine’s day as in the finale, it was Ethan Hindle and Scott Campbell Jr. leading the charge, both with two base-hits.

UNCG continued to pelt Wildcat batters with baseballs and hit-by-pitches as they brought the weekend total up to 14 hit-by-pitches now, with Campbell now leading the team with four.

They walked six more times in game three and continued to show off that plate discipline, making opposing pitchers work overtime and force it outside the batter’s box, causing mistakes.

The bats maintained consistency and power, and the Sunday starter, bumped up to Saturday for the doubleheader, Nate Harris showed off in his four innings of work.

Harris threw the most pitches of the starters with 71, and in his four innings, he sat down five batters from strikeouts and gave up an earned run on three hits.

Kentucky’s pitching ended up striking out 43 Spartans on the weekend.

Mingione brought five more Kentucky pitchers to the mound in game three, and after a shaky ninth inning, they came out victorious and sealed the weekend sweep with a 10-6 win.

The Wildcats ruled the weekend in Greensboro, NC., in all aspects of the game.

From roster depth on the mound, utility players stepping up for injured players, to plate discipline and working off opposing teams’ mistakes, it was an all-around effort that secured the win.

 The Wildcats are back in action for their home opener against Morehead State (2-1) on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 4 p.m. EST.