No. 12 Kentucky baseball shutout Ball State 4-0 in the first game of the NCAA Tournament Lexington Regional on Friday.

The game marked several firsts for the “Bat Cats” including the first NCAA Tournament game and win in Kentucky Proud Park as well as the first shutout in tournament play in school history.

Playing in front of the third largest crowd in KPP history, it was a true pitcher’s duel for much of the night, with the score-line reading 1-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth.

The lone run prior to the eighth came courtesy of Kentucky catcher Devin Burkes, who sent a solo home run past the right field wall in the fourth inning.

“Honestly, I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Burkes said. “I think I was leadoff that inning so I was just trying to get on base for the guys. I know I got it pretty good.”

Kentucky opted to start redshirt freshman Travis Smith on the mound and the righty did not disappoint, keeping the Cardinals scoreless after four innings. Smith finished the day with three hits allowed and four strikeouts against 18 batters. He threw 76 pitches and finished with a 4.84 ERA.

“For him to go out and give us four shutout innings, this is a guy that started as our midweek starter and I really believe no moment is too big for him,” Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said. “For us to hand the ball to a redshirt freshman in this environment with everything on the line, there’s no moment too big. Our players love playing behind him, they love Travis Smith. He’s got SEC Friday night starter stuff.”

Coming in for Smith in the fifth inning was sophomore Mason Moore, who would go on to earn the win for the Cats.

Staying perfect on the day, Moore finished the day with five innings pitched and two strikeouts with no hits allowed against 14 batters. His ERA stood at 2.17 after the game.

“There was no way I was taking him out of the game,” Mingione said. “Some of those sinkers he was throwing were dive bombing, it was incredible. For Mason to throw 50 pitches in five innings, that’s incredible. You start doing the math, he’s throwing about 10 pitches an inning.”

Kentucky’s bats, barring the Burkes homer, remained mostly quiet in the game with Ball State starter Trennor O’Donnell pitching 7.1 innings with four hits allowed and five strikeouts against 28 batters faced. Nicknamed “Tex” by his coaches and teammates, O’Donnell threw 119 pitches before exiting the game in the eighth inning.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals and fortunately for the Cats, reliever Sam Klein would not be up to the task.

Inheriting one base runner and one out, Klein gave up a single and a walk before a wild pitch would score the second Wildcat run of the day. Things would only get worse when a single to right field by Emilien Pitre drove home two more runs to double UK’s lead.

With Moore taking the mound in the ninth with a four-run cushion and three outs to go, it was only fitting that a strikeout swinging would end the game and send Kentucky on in the bracket to face the winner of the night game between West Virginia and Indiana.

Advancing in the winners’ portion of the bracket, Kentucky will face either IU or WVU in the nightcap game on Saturday with first pitch time set for 6 p.m. EST from Kentucky Proud Park.

Indiana and West Virginia are set to begin at 7 p.m. EST with the game set to air live on ESPN+. The loser will face Ball State in the morning game on Saturday.