NCAA D1 baseball players, family and friends were left scrounging for housing accommodations for the Lexington regional baseball tournament on June 2-4. 

The tournament is categorized into regionals, super regionals, the beginning of the Men’s College World Series (MCW), the MCW Finals and the final championship game.

Kentucky hosted the tournament with participating teams from Ball State University, West Virginia University and Indiana University Bloomington. 

According to a statement released by the NCAA, participating schools were told that they must arrange sleeping arrangements within 30 miles of the venue the tournaments were occurring in. 

However, a hotel shortage occurred due to the country music festival Railbird making it difficult to find lodging for the weekend of Lexington regionals according to Ben Upton, a commentator on college baseball.

Consequently, teams participating in the championship received emails notifying them that they would be able to stay on UK’s campus in pre-prepared dorms for $92 a night. 

“The NCAA tourney, of course, became a likelihood over just the past couple of months. As that possibility became more and more of a reality, our athletics program began to evaluate other options while also communicating and coordinating with NCAA officials,” UK Spokesperson Jay Blanton said.

According to the statement released by the NCAA, the alternative housing arrangements prepared by UK were approved. 

The decision for UK to house students in student housing was made through a NCAA committee vote.

According to agreements made between the NCAA and UK, teams also had the option to stay in hotels reserved in Louisville.

“Since Kentucky could not secure the minimum number of hotel rooms within the specified distance of no more than 30 miles from the host venue, the school informed the committee it had secured three different on-campus residence buildings within proximity to the baseball stadium where the teams could be housed,” the statement said.

UK informed the NCAA that participating teams would be housed in “apartment-style” dorms and that each building would be staffed by university personnel for 24 hours a day.

“The residence halls are the ones closest to the baseball stadium and all are under 20 years old. They are quite comparable to hotels in the area and also offer great convenience and access to the baseball stadium,” Blanton said.

According to a viral TikTok video shared by JJ Wetherholt, a West Virginia University baseball player, participating teams were hosted in Baldwin, Smith and Ingels Hall. 

These dorms are located on UK’s central campus less than a mile away from Kentucky Proud Park.

Proximity to Kentucky Proud Park was not in the conversation in the comment portion of Wetherholt’s video.

The reactions to Wetherholt’s video were less than satisfied with his living accommodations.

“Ingels is where i lived freshman year I’m so sorry that dorm is a hell hole,” TikTok user @jcwo234 said in a comment on the video.

Matt May, Associate Director of Athletics Communications and Public Relations, told the Kernel in an email that all inquiries on the matter are being directed to the NCAA’s statement made earlier this week.