LEXINGTON, Ky. -- One of the game's most unheralded hurlers has Kentucky one win away from a trip to the College World Series.
Trey Pooser, a grad senior transfer who has methodically emerged as the Wildcats' ace this season, allowed only one hit and tossed seven shutout innings against a potent Oregon State lineup Saturday night as Kentucky cruised to a 10-0 win in the opening game of the NCAA Lexington Super Regional.
"He is like one of the best pitchers in the country that nobody knows about," said UK first baseman Ryan Nicholson, who supplied the offensive punch for the Wildcats with a three-hit night that included a home run and a double. "He goes out there and he shoves, and he doesn't really talk about it. He's not a boastful guy. He's all about the team."
In his last three starts, Pooser (7-1) has allowed one earned run against Arkansas, Illinois, and Oregon State over 19 innings on the mound. The right-hander from Hanahan, S.C., lowered his season ERA to 3.19 with his latest gem, part of a 30-inning stretch for the UK staff allowing just one run in the NCAA Tournament.
"Smiles (when things don't go right)," Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said of Pooser. "And I'm just telling you, you have real toughness. If you can stand on the mound -- and that mound can be a lonely place where everybody is watching you -- when something doesn't go your way, the guy just sits there and just smiles and he shakes his head and he goes to the next thing."
That moment came in the fifth inning at Kentucky Proud Park with the Cats clinging to a 1-0 lead.
The Beavers put their first two batters on base and had the top of the order looming. Pooser struck out the 9-hole hitter but issued a walk to arguably the nation's top hitter, Travis Bazzana, to load the bases. Pooser struck out Micah McDowell, a .385 hitter, and got Gavin Turley, who has 33 extra-base hits this season, to ground into an inning-ending force out.
"Just trusting my stuff," Pooser said. "... Whatever I did, I was just focused on throwing strikes and filling up the zone."
He finished the night with eight strikeouts against one of the nation's top hitting teams. It was the second consecutive game that UK shut out a team that has not been shut out this season.
"He was throwing three pitches. He threw them pretty well and he pitched himself a good game," Oregon State's Elijah Hainline said of the UK ace. "Got a lot of weak contact. I think that was the biggest thing."
Added OSU head coach Mitch Canham: "He throws quality strikes. He doesn't really dabble around... But when runners are in scoring position or we had guys on base, they were able to minimize (the damage)."
Kentucky broke the game open with two runs in the fifth on Nicholson's 21st home run of the season and a seven-run seventh inning that included a slew of defensive miscues by the Beavers splattered around only two hits.
Seven Cats collected at least one hit on the night, including Nicholson's three-hit performance and two by Nick Lopez. Eight of the nine men in the UK lineup scored a run.
Oregon State ace Aiden May (7-1) suffered his first loss of the season. The junior right-hander allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk over five innings of work. He struck out five.
Jackson Nove pitched the final two innings for the Cats, striking out four of the six batters he faced as UK claimed its first Super Regional win in program history in front of a stadium-record crowd of 7,441.
The series resumes on Sunday with a 9 p.m. ET first pitch. With a win, 2-seed Kentucky (44-14) can clinch its first trip to the College World Series in program history. No. 15 Oregon State (45-15) needs a win to force a decisive Game 3 on Monday.
