The NC State baseball team lost to Kentucky 10-5 in a winner take-all-regional final Monday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, ending its season in heartbreaking fashion in the regional final for the third year in a row.  

The Pack (36-25, 16-14 ACC) started senior Johnny Piedmonte on the mound and he got off to a quick start, only allowing a single up the middle in the first two innings while holding the powerful Kentucky (43-21) offense at bay.

Sophomore left fielder Brett Kinneman got the Pack on the board first with a long home run over the right field fence that drove in freshman designated hitter Brad Debo who had started the inning with a double.

Piedmonte ran into trouble in the fourth when two walks and a single started the inning for the Wildcats. Marcus Carson lined a double down the right field line that tied the game at two. An RBI ground out and a hit by pitch followed before head coach Elliott Avent replaced Piedmonte with junior Cody Beckman. Beckman gave up an infield single before ending the inning by inducing a pop out, but Kentucky had taken a 4-2 lead.

The Pack bounced right back in the bottom of the fourth when junior shortstop Joe Dunand walked and then came around to score when freshman second baseman Will Wilson lined a double down the left field line. Wilson scored on a sac fly from junior third baseman Evan Mendoza to knot the game at four.

In the fifth, the Pack retook the lead when junior first baseman Stephen Pitarra drew a two-out walk and Josh McLain followed with a line drive in the gap that was bobbled by the center fielder, allowing Pitarra to score and give the Pack the lead again at 5-4.

The Pack unraveled in the seventh inning and Kentucky never looked back. Much of the damage for NC State was self-inflicted, as Kentucky scored three runs on two walks, a hit by pitch, one error, a passed ball, a wild pitch and one hit. Tristan Pompey scored on the error to knot the game at five, and Kole Cottam drove in two with a double off the right-field wall, the game-winning hit to make it 7-5. In the ninth, Kentucky scored three runs on two walks, two errors and one hit.

The bats had gone silent and the Pack could not muster a late rally as the season came to a close. Kentucky moves on to face Louisville in the super regionals next weekend.