Western Kentucky’s baseball team opened 2026 road play with a 13-9 loss at No. 22 Kentucky on Wednesday evening at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington.

A late rally highlighted by back-to-back home runs by senior infielder Kyle Hayes trimmed a six-run deficit and brought the Hilltoppers to within one in the seventh inning before the Wildcats responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame and closed out the game.

The Wildcats jumped ahead early, plating four runs on seven hits in the first inning and adding another run in the second to go ahead 5-0 entering the third.

A solo homer by Hayes in the top fourth put the Hilltoppers on the board, trailing 5-1. After another home run by the Wildcats in the bottom of the fourth, an Austin Haller double to right plated Hayden Nazarenus and brought the count to 6-2 in the top of the fifth.

UK once again answered with a pair of runs scored in the bottom of the frame to push the Wildcats’ lead to 8-2.

Entering the top of the sixth, Hayes launched a two-RBI home run to ignite the Hilltopper offense and cut the UK lead to four, 8-4. Daniel Stewart followed with an RBI single through the left side as Haller scored on an infield error, then Lane Arroyos singled through the right side to drive home Stewart and WKU narrowed the deficit to just one, 8-7, entering the bottom sixth.

A pair of runs by Kentucky pushed the Wildcats’ lead back out to three, 10-7, entering the seventh.

Hayes later scored on a wild pitch and Haller grounded out to second to plate Ian Nguyen and narrow the margin to one, 10-9, in the top of the seventh.

The Wildcats responded with another multi-run inning to maintain the lead, plating three runners and pushing the score back out to 13-9 entering the eighth. The Tops were unable to close the gap, dropping to 5-4 on the season.

Hayes powered the Hilltopper offense with a two-home run, three-RBI performance on Wednesday; the senior infielder has totaled three home runs and eight RBIs on five hits with seven runs scored for the season. Nazarenus accounted for a pair of hits and two runs scored on the day. Haller totaled two hits and two RBIs on the day.

Zach Serup tossed the final 1 2/3 innings for the Tops, striking out four batters.

WKU returns to action at home hosting Indiana in a four-game weekend series from Friday through Sunday at Nick Denes Field. First pitch for Friday’s series opener is set for 3 p.m.