In the ever-evolving landscape of college football, where the dynamics of player transfers and financial incentives intertwine, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown’s stance on Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals has ignited a fervent discussion. His unequivocal declaration, “I’m not giving no wide receiver $2 million in college,” reverberates as a bold statement of principle amidst the tumultuous saga of Trebor Pena’s unexpected transfer. This incident, set against the backdrop of Pena’s impressive 2024 season with 941 yards and 9 touchdowns from 84 receptions, raises pivotal questions about the future of athlete compensation and the integrity of college sports.

The NIL Conundrum

The introduction of NIL deals in college sports was heralded as a groundbreaking shift, promising athletes a share of the financial pie that their talents help bake. Yet, as with any seismic change, it has not come without its controversies and challenges. Fran Brown’s stark refusal to engage in what he perceives as exorbitant financial deals for players underlines a growing concern among traditionalists about the potential for these agreements to skew the competitive balance and spirit of collegiate athletics.

Trebor Pena’s Transfer Shock

The case of Trebor Pena is particularly illustrative of the complexities surrounding NIL deals. Following a standout season, his decision to transfer has been shrouded in speculation and debate. It underscores the delicate balance between athlete aspirations, financial incentives, and team loyalty. Pena’s journey, marked by significant on-field achievements, has become a flashpoint in the broader discourse on the role of money in college sports and the expectations placed on young athletes navigating this landscape.

A Principled Stand or a Losing Battle?

Fran Brown’s comments have sparked a wide array of reactions, ranging from support for his principled stance to criticism that he may be out of step with the realities of modern college football. This dichotomy reflects a larger conversation about how the sport should evolve in the face of increasing commercialization and what values it seeks to uphold. Brown’s resistance to engaging in high-dollar NIL deals is not just about one player or one team; it’s about setting a precedent for how the game is played off the field as much as on it.

The Broader Implications

The saga of Trebor Pena’s transfer and Fran Brown’s subsequent comments is more than just a sports story; it’s a reflection of the changing tides in college athletics. As NIL deals continue to shape the landscape, questions about fairness, team cohesion, and the true purpose of college sports come to the fore. The discussion sparked by Brown’s stance is indicative of the growing pains of a system in transition, grappling with how to reconcile the commercial aspects of the sport with its educational and developmental mission.

A Reflection on the Future of College Football

As the dust settles on this particular chapter, the implications of Fran Brown’s comments and the surrounding events extend far beyond Syracuse or any single athlete. They invite a reflection on the future of college football, the values it embodies, and the path it chooses to navigate the complex interplay of money, talent, and tradition. In a world where the lines between amateur and professional sports continue to blur, the decisions made today will undoubtedly shape the legacy and character of college football for generations to come.

Cary, N.C. – Florida Atlantic sophomore pitcher Trey Beard has been invited to USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team Training Camp. The team will feature 56 of the premier non-draft eligible players for a five-game ‘Stars vs. Stripes’ intrasquad series in North Carolina from June 29-July 3. USA Baseball will name the final Collegiate National Team following training camp on July 3.
 
The first game will be held at Atrium Health Ballpark in Kannapolis, N.C., at 5:35 p.m. ET on June 29. The next three games, June 30-July 2, will be played at USA Baseball’s National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., at 6:30 p.m. ET. The series finale on July 3 will be hosted at Segra Stadium in Fayetteville, N.C., at 6:35 p.m. ET.
 
The Collegiate National Team will play in the 45th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series in various locations across Japan on July 8-13. The remaining players from the Collegiate National Team Training Camp will play in a Fourth of July game against the Appalachian League Select Team at Atrium Health Ballpark in Kannapolis at 6:35 p.m. ET.
 
Beard established himself as one of the best pitchers in the country in his sophomore campaign, finishing with a 7-1 record, a 3.14 ERA, and 118 strikeouts. His strikeout total ranked seventh in Division I prior to the start of NCAA Regionals. A First Team All-AAC selection, he became the first FAU pitcher since Austin Gomber in 2013 to eclipse 100 strikeouts in a season.
 
Head coach John McCormack
“I am so happy for Trey. This is a well-deserved invite. He earned it on the field, and I look forward to watching him pitch with USA across his chest.”
 
For more information on the Collegiate National Team, visit https://www.usabaseball.com/team/collegiate and follow @USABaseballCNT on X and @USABaseball on Instagram.  

The 2025 NCAA Baseball Tournament gets underway with 16 Regional matchups across the country this weekend. These top-16 teams have been awarded the opportunity to host their initial bracket after a stellar season prior to the tournament.

In terms of overall bids, the SEC earned the most at 13 teams making the final NCAA Tournament field. The ACC (9) followed, then the Big 12 (8), Big Ten (4), Sun Belt (2), AAC (2), Conference USA (2) and the Big West (2).

Regionals are contested under a double elimination format, before next weekend’s Super Regionals turn to a best of three series. Whoever emerges from each Super Regional will advance to Omaha, where the final eight teams will battle for the national championship at the 2025 College World Series. Below you can find the updated bracket:

Nashville Regional

May 30

2. Louisville 8, 3. East Tennessee State 3
Three Louisville players had two RBI – including Eddie King Jr., who had a two-run home run as part of a three-hit day – en route to an 8-3 victory over East Tennessee State to get the Nashville Regional off and running. The duo of Patrick Forbes and Brennyn Cutts held ETSU to just three hits in the effort and advanced into the winners’ bracket.

1. Vanderbilt vs. 4. Wright State: 6 p.m. ET, SECN

May 31

East Tennessee State vs. Loser of Vanderbilt vs. Wright State – 3 p.m. ET
Louisville vs. Winner of Vanderbilt vs. Wright State – 9 p.m. ET

Winner will face winner of Hattiesburg Regional

Hattiesburg Regional

May 30

2. Alabama vs. 3. Miami: 3 p.m. ET, ESPN2
1. Southern Miss vs. 4. Columbia: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Winner will face winner of Nashville Regional

Tallahassee Regional

May 30

1. Florida State vs. 4. Bethune-Cookman: 3 p.m. ET, ACCN
2. Northeastern vs. 3. Mississippi State: 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Winner will face winner of Corvallis Regional

Corvallis Regional

May 30

2. TCU vs. 3. USC: 3 p.m. ET, ESPNU
1. Oregon State vs. 4. Saint Mary’s: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Winner will face winner of Tallahassee Regional

Chapel Hill Regional

May 30

1. North Carolina def. 4. Holy Cross, 4-0
The first three innings of North Carolina’s battle with Holy Cross were scoreless, but the Tar Heels made a three-run dent in the bottom of the fourth inning, due to a couple of big hits. They’d add on another run in the bottom of the fifth, and that was all starter Jake Knapp needed. He delivered 8.1 innings of shutout ball, and Walker McDuffie came on for the final two outs. North Carolina has championship aspirations, and they started their journey off with a bang.

2. Oklahoma vs. 3. Nebraska: 5 p.m. ET, ESPN+

May 31

Holy Cross vs. Loser of Oklahoma vs. Nebraska – 12 p.m. ET
North Carolina vs. Winner of Oklahoma vs. Nebraska – 6 p.m. ET

Winner will face winner of Eugene Regional

Eugene Regional

May 30

2. Arizona vs. 3. Cal Poly: 4 p.m. ET, ESPN+
1. Oregon vs. 4. Utah Valley: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Winner will face winner of Chapel Hill Regional

Conway Regional

May 30

3. East Carolina def. 2. Florida, 11-6
East Carolina brought it to Florida from the get-go. Before the Gators even knew what hit them, the Pirates were out to a 9-0 lead, scoring in each of the first four innings. Florida finally got off the mat in the bottom of the fourth with two runs, but it was far from enough. They’d add on another run in the bottom of the eighth and a couple in the ninth, but East Carolina’s offensive explosion — 11 runs on 15 hits, coupled with some impressive pitching — Ethan Norby going 7.1 innings and striking out ten, put a stake through Florida’s hearts. Coastal Carolina and Fairfield are screaming, “Shiver me timbers” at the prospect of facing the Pirates right now.

1. Coastal Carolina vs. 4. Fairfield: 6 p.m. ET, ESPN+

May 31

Florida vs. Loser of Coastal Carolina vs. Fairfield – 12 p.m. ET
East Carolina vs. Winner of Coastal Carolina vs. Fairfield – 6 p.m. ET

Winner will face winner of Auburn Regional

Auburn Regional

May 30

2. NC State vs. 3. Stetson: 2 p.m. ET, ESPN+
1. Auburn vs. 4. Central Connecticut: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Winner will face winner of Conway Regional

Austin Regional

May 30

1. Texas def. 4. Houston Christian, 7-1
The second-ranked Longhorns used small ball to roll over the visiting Huskies in the opening game of the Austin Regional on Friday. Texas got on the board first with a two-run third inning before exploding for a five-spot in the fifth inning to put this one away. Kimble Schuessler started the five-run fifth with a two-out, two-run single to left, sparking a string of five straight hits for the Longhorns. Schuessler scored one at-bat later on a single by Adrian Rodriguez, who’d score on another RBI-single from Casey Borba while Jalin Flores scored the game’s seventh run on a RBI-double from Will Gasparino. Houston Christian got on the board with a two-out RBI-double by Jeremy Rader in the top of the fourth inning.

2. UTSA vs. 3. Kansas State: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN+

May 31

Houston Christian vs. Loser of Kansas State vs. UTSA – 3 p.m. ET
Texas vs. Winner of Kansas State vs. UTSA – 9 p.m. ET

Winner will face winner of Los Angeles Regional

Los Angeles Regional

May 30

1. UCLA vs. 4. Fresno State: 4 p.m. ET, ESPN+
2. UC Irvine vs. 3. Arizona State: 9 p.m. ET, ESPNU

Winner will face winner of Austin Regional

Oxford Regional

May 30

2. Georgia Tech vs. 3. Western Kentucky: 4 p.m. ET, ESPN+
1. Ole Miss vs. 4. Murray State: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Winner will face winner of Athens Regional

Athens Regional

May 30

1. Georgia vs. 4. Binghamton: 12 p.m. ET, SECN
2. Duke vs. 3. Oklahoma State: 6 p.m. ET, ESPNU

Winner will face winner of Oxford Regional

Baton Rouge Regional

May 30

1. LSU vs. 4. Little Rock: 3 p.m. ET, SECN
2. Dallas Baptist vs. 3. Rhode Island: 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Winner will face winner of Clemson Regional

Clemson Regional

May 30

2. West Virginia 4, 3. Kentucky 3
Kentucky saw its three-run lead vanish as West Virginia rallied to tie things up in the seventh inning. The Mountaineers then got a leadoff double in the ninth inning from Brodie Kresser, and he later came around to score on a walk-off sacrifice fly – completing the comeback and sending WVU to the winners’ bracket with a 4-3 win.

1. Clemson vs. 4. USC Upstate: 6 p.m. ET, ACCN

May 31

Kentucky vs. Loser of Clemson vs. USC Upstate – 12 p.m. ET
West Virginia vs. Winner of Clemson vs. USC Upstate – 6 p.m. ET

Winner will face winner of Baton Rouge Regional

Knoxville Regional

May 30

3. Cincinnati 11, 2. Wake Forest 6
The opening game of the Knoxville Regional saw Cincinnati pull off a win over Wake Forest. The Bearcats broke out with a six-run second inning and didn’t look back, taking down the Demon Deacons 11-6 to advance in the winners’ bracket.

1. Tennessee vs. 4. Miami (OH): 6 p.m. ET, ESPN+

May 31

Wake Forest vs. Loser of Tennessee vs. Miami (OH) – 12 p.m. ET
Cincinnati vs. Winner of Tennessee vs. Miami (OH) – 6 p.m. ET

Winner will face winner of Fayetteville Regional

Fayetteville Regional

May 30

1. Arkansas 6, 4. North Dakota State 2
In the opening game of the Fayetteville Regional, Arkansas and North Dakota State traded runs. However, the Razorbacks created separation thanks in large part to a two-run home run from Cam Kozeal to go up four runs, which stood as the difference in the 6-2 victory.

2. Kansas vs. 3. Creighton: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN+

May 31

North Dakota State vs. Loser of Kansas vs. Creighton – 3 p.m. ET
Arkansas vs. Winner of Kansas vs. Creighton – 9 p.m. ET

Winner will face winner of Knoxville Regional

After more than a decade without a college football video game, fans couldn’t wait to get their hands on “EA Sports College Football 25” after it launched last summer, making it the best-selling sports video game in history. 

The follow-up title, “EA Sports College Football 26,” will release July 10, and while there is not nearly as much anticipation as last year, fans of the first game had plenty of things they wanted to see improved upon or added for this year’s game. On Thursday, I got a chance to play an early version of the game down at EA’s studios in Orlando, Florida, and spent nearly five hours digging into the new gameplay changes and updates the two major career modes: Dynasty and Road to Glory. 

Below you can find a detailed account of my thoughts after some time on the sticks, but the overall feeling I left with was that they had genuinely improved the game — some areas more than others — and built on what was a solid foundation from their first year back making a college football video game. 

Gameplay

I think the general takeaway from most folks that played last year’s game was that it was fun, but had room to grow and improve in terms of gameplay. After playing for a few hours (on an early version they promise will get even better), I am pleased to say they certainly made some big strides with the gameplay. It’s smoother, smarter and a few key elements that were lacking last year are much improved this year. 

Presentation

We’ll start with presentation where they added a ton of stuff, including some iconic entrances that were missing from the first game — for example, Virginia Tech runs out to “Enter Sandman” and South Carolina has “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Sandstorm.” The bands play a lot more songs, there are more songs that play over the PA that crowds sing along to, there are more mascots, they added a bunch of turnover celebrations, and teams have more varied and unique runouts that can change depending on how big the game is (with special presentations for night games) — with their real coaches in the front now that (most) coaches are in the game. 

Anyone that played the first game a bunch noticed that a lot of things were repetitive, and it certainly seems like that will be less of the case this year. 

Defense

I’m shocked to be talking to you about defense because I have never really enjoyed playing video game football defense, largely because I’ve been terrible at anything other than line play. I have been a staunch “offensive coordinator mode” user of this game for a very long time, allowing super sim to handle the defense. 

However, the two hours I played on this game were genuinely enjoyable and I felt defense was far more intuitive and less frantic than in the past. Physics-based tackling, which debuted in “Madden 25,” has come to EA CFB 26 and makes for a much better experience, as it’s been tuned really well to be a smoother function. Hit sticks are far less of a crap shoot, you can trip guys up and big defenders bring down small guys easier and small defenders struggle to bring down big guys. 

I’m still not great in space (skill issue, not game issue), but they also have a new block shedding feature I loved that allows you to move a lineman with your left stick movement when engaged as a defender and still have an impact as both a pass rusher and run defender. They also have the option to choose different line stunts for every play in the playbook, allowing you to customize each play to throw some new wrinkles at the offensive line. 

Running the dang ball 

The weak point of last year’s game was running the football. I can’t tell you how many times I got mad because I’d be following my guard through a hole and he wouldn’t even consider blocking the safety in front of him and just run down field aimlessly and I’d get tackled. I’m thrilled to inform you that doesn’t happen anymore. The new blocking engine is fantastic and your linemen will make the right reads and right decisions within the scheme you’re running. That, plus the physics-based engine that means your big back can run through arm tackles by a DB means long runs that were nearly impossible to create between the tackles are now very much in play. 

CPU AI improvements 

The game is smarter than last year, which makes for a good challenge. Defenses will disguise blitzes and coverages until right before the snap, and they read tendencies much better than they used to. If you’re running inside zone a bunch, they might start going to an under front to take away that double team with the center and guard and slow you down. If you keep throwing drag routes and underneath stuff, they’ll adapt and try to take that away. This happens much faster the higher level you go, with Heisman mode being a very legitimate challenge — but one I didn’t find impossible — that will force you to vary not only your play calling, but where you’re going with the football on those plays. 

Road to Glory

I think the game mode that felt the most vanilla last year was Road to Glory, and the big news for the mode this year is that they heard the complaints about starting in college and brought back the high school portion of the game. Not only that, they made it a legitimate recruiting process, which I found fun (and frustrating) to play. You once again pick your star level to start at, which impacts your attributes and ratings, but you have to try and maintain or improve on that star rating with your play on the field and get the offers you want — which was not easy. 

I did a quick run through the high school portion starting as a 3-star QB and dropped to a 2-star. As a Dynasty guy mainly, I still am not used to the Road to Glory camera angle (even zoomed out), which played a role, but also, they do a good job of giving you the high school experience where both you aren’t that great and your teammates can be even worse. While frustrating throwing good passes that got dropped, it also made it feel real and made the successes even more fun. 

The quick breakdown of the recruiting process is you pick 10 schools to be in your top 10 and play five weeks of a high school season. For each school you can see their depth chart and where you project, their other recruits on their recruiting board, the team’s coaching style and scheme fit for your archetype and more. From there, you have a “tape score” that you earn points toward with your play by hitting your goals, with some goals getting boosts for certain teams. You can also get a challenge goal from a specific team that can give you a big boost with that school. 

Instead of playing full games, you pick four moments from a list before each game to play that have a basic goal worth 50 points and a bigger goal worth 200 or more. The better you do in hitting goals on those four drives you get each game, the more interested schools will get and once you meet their threshold, you’ll get a scholarship offer. You can commit at any time, but as you keep playing, if you do better, you can get more incentives and boosts to skills if you sign with that team as part of your offer — this feels like their way of doing NIL without NIL. However, if you play poorly you can lose incentives, and if they sign another player at your position the tape score threshold could jump up and you might lose your offer. 

Finally, you narrow your list to a top three and get to do a hat ceremony if you haven’t already committed, and in the hat ceremony you can fake out a team and throw a hat off the table. That was pretty enjoyable. 

I didn’t get any farther than that as we had limited time and I wanted to see as much of the game as I could, but I will say this portion of Road to Glory was quite fun and felt like being on the other side of Dynasty mode. We’ll have to see if they did enough to make the in-college portion more enjoyable and have more variance, but this was a much better starting spot for the mode. 

Dynasty

Dynasty was the mode I spent the most time in, as did most folks who played the game, and for the most part they kept the main elements the same, which is a positive in my eyes. Their main focus on Dynasty this year seemed to be improving the user experience and providing more customization options so you can get an even deeper experience if you want it. 

The big updates for recruiting that I could see were changes to the presentation of the recruiting board, most notably your team needs being at the top of the board rather than a separate page you have to toggle in and out of, which was a huge improvement. There is also more information in the main recruiting board screen, like where a prospect is in the process (top eight, top five, top three), a red dot when they’re ready for a visit and green and red flags for when you’ve moved up or down on their list. All of it allows you to see more information without having to go in and out of each recruit’s name and toggle through the various screens. 

The other big change to recruiting is the time cost for scheduling visits is now no longer 40 hours for every recruit, but instead varies based on their proximity to your school and your pipelines. That allows small schools with fewer recruiting hours to more easily recruit local prospects, because a kid in your backyard only costs 10 or 15 hours instead of 40. 

The trophy room is back along with rivalry trophies, bowl trophies and real awards — so, Doak Walker Award instead of Best Running Back — which is another element that makes the game feel more real. 

Another interesting thing is the game and coaching carousel feels a little more lively with the actual coaches in the game. Not only are most of the 136 head coaches in the game, but a lot of real coordinators are as well. That means they all have attributes, traits and coaching levels (which now go above 50), which are fun to parse through, and you can choose to start your career as one of those coaches and pick up all of their skills from the jump. It’s also funny seeing things in the Staff Moves page like Dabo Swinney going to the NFL, which happened at the end of the first year of my quick Dynasty play through. 

From a customization stand point, some things that didn’t quite make it into last year’s game that they wanted to add but weren’t able to get functioning properly for launch are in this year’s edition. Big ones include formation subs, protected rivalry games for custom conferences and being able to sim to any week of the season. In general, players are given more tools to customize the experience across the board, whether you want to have more or less control. 

There’s also a change to wear-and-tear to expand it from a single game thing to an element that players carry with them over the course of a full season and career. That makes managing player usage even more challenging, but if you’re getting fed up with injuries happening too often you can also customize wear-and-tear impacts for various hit types with sliders. 

Overall, it feels a lot like last year, with just a bit more going on and a better user interface. To me, that’s a win, because I enjoyed Dynasty mode in 25 and will be ready to sink some more hours into this one. 

• Kentucky baseball faces West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament’s Clemson Regional.
• Both teams enter the game on losing streaks, with UK having lost four straight and WVU seven of its last nine.
• First pitch is noon today at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.

Kentucky baseball is part of the NCAA Tournament for the third time in as many years.

But the Wildcats are limping into the event, with no momentum to speak of. That’s because UK (29-24) and coach Nick Mingione have lost four straight games. Kentucky’s last win was May 13, when it topped Northern Kentucky, 6-1, at Kentucky Proud Park.

UK will try to turn it around today in its first game in the Clemson Regional.

Its opponent: West Virginia.

The Mountaineers are 41-14 overall, going 19-9 in Big 12 play.

But like Kentucky, WVU doesn’t have much success to speak of recently: The Mountaineers have dropped seven of their past nine outings entering today’s tilt.

Which team can pull itself out of a tailspin and advance in the winners bracket of the Clemson Regional?

The Courier Journal is bringing you live updates, scores and highlights from the game. Follow along.

Watch Kentucky baseball vs. West Virginia on Fubo (free trial)

UK got a pair of runners on in the top of the ninth … but couldn’t bring either home.

It remains 3-all going into the bottom of the ninth.

West Virginia doesn’t reach base in the bottom of the eighth, going down in order.

It’s 3-3 heading into the ninth inning.

Yet another 1-2-3 inning for UK at the plate.

WVU does the same in the bottom of the inning as UK did at the top: three up, three down.

It’s Kentucky 3, West Virginia 3 after seven innings.

Another 1-2-3 inning for UK’s batsmen.

The score remains 3-3 between Kentucky and West Virginia.

It’s back to all square in Clemson, South Carolina: WVU second baseman Gavin Kelly doubled to start the inning, then scored on an RBI from Brodie Kresser.

It’s 3-all through six innings of the Clemson Regional game.

Nothing to speak of for UK in the top of the sixth: three batters led to three outs.

It’s a ballgame once more: UK committed two throwing errors in the inning, both helping WVU plate a pair of runs.

Third baseman Patrick Herrera committed the first error, as a throw to first sailed high on him.The second throwing error was far more significant: Second baseman Luke Lawrence’s throw to first wasn’t on target, allowing two Mountaineers to score.

Kentucky’s lead now is 3-2 after five frames.

The Wildcats threatened to score again after putting runners on the corners with two outs.

But WVU pitcher Griffin Kirn got Patrick Herrera to line out to right field to end the top of the fifth.

Three up, three down for UK starting pitcher Ben Cleaver in the bottom of the fourth.

The Wildcats lead the Mountaineers, 3-0.

Kentucky strikes first: a sky-high bunt from Kyuss Gargett pushed Ryan Schwartz across the plate in the top of the third.

Then, WVU had an even costlier mistake: A throwing error by shortstop Brodie Kresser allowed two runs to score and push UK’s lead to three after the top of the fourth.

WVU got two men on and had runners at the corners with two outs. But UK pitcher Ben Cleaver induced a groundout from West Virginia’s Jace Rinehart to escape the inning without permitting a run.

It’s a 1-2-3 inning for Kentucky at the plate in the top of the third.

Wildcats have just one hit through three innings.

Sam White singled down the right-field line to lead off the inning. And that was all she wrote for WVU, as Kentucky starter Ben Cleaver sat down the next three batters he faced.

No score through two frames in Clemson, South Carolina.

Kentucky reaches base via a hit by pitch for the second time in as many innings. But another runner is stranded as the Wildcats’ offense continues to try to find a rhythm.

West Virginia notched a hit but did nothing else in the bottom half of the frame.

No score through one inning of the opening game of the Clemson Regional.

Kentucky got the first two batters on. And eventually, it loaded the bases with one out.

But WVU got out of the jam via a double play.

Because of the nearly three-hour delay of today’s game, the Kentucky/West Virginia NCAA regional game no longer will be broadcast on television. Instead, the contest will stream live on ESPN+. First pitch is set for 2:45 p.m.

The matchup originally was slated to air on ESPNU and start at noon.

According to Kentucky baseball’s official account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, today’s NCAA regional game versus West Virginia will get underway at approximately 2:45 p.m.

The game originally was scheduled to begin at noon, but inclement weather delayed the start.

The tarp is coming off and currently we are aiming for an approximate start time of 2:45 p.m. ET.

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) May 30, 2025

As of 1:30 p.m., today’s game between Kentucky and West Virginia is still in a weather delay. A start time has yet to be announced.

Read more here.

Kentucky is 29-24 in 2025, going 13-17 in SEC play during the regular season.

Click here to see the Wildcats’ full 2025 schedule.

The forecast for Clemson shows a high of 78 and a low of 54, according to AccuWeather.

“Times of clouds and sun” are expected this afternoon, per the AccuWeather website.

Today’s game between Kentucky and West Virginia is in a weather delay. A start time has yet to be announced.

Read more here.

Here is the latest college baseball schedule and NCAA Tournament bracket update.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

• Kentucky baseball and West Virginia is delayed because of inclement weather Friday in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament’s Clemson Regional.
• The forecast for Clemson shows a high of 78 and a low of 54, according to AccuWeather.

Kentucky baseball and West Virginia was delayed nearly three hours because of inclement weather Friday in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament’s Clemson Regional.

The Wildcats (29-24) and Mountaineers (41-14) are set to get underway at approximately 2:45 p.m. The game had initially had been slated to begin at noon.

Stream Kentucky vs. West Virginia baseball (free trial)

Because of the nearly three-hour delay of today’s game, the Kentucky/West Virginia NCAA regional game no longer will be broadcast on television. Instead, the contest will stream live on ESPN+. First pitch is set for 2:45 p.m.

The matchup originally was slated to air on ESPNU and start at noon.

The forecast for Clemson shows a high of 78 and a low of 54, according to AccuWeather.

“Times of clouds and sun” are expected this afternoon, per the AccuWeather website.

Kentucky’s game vs. West Virginia will air on ESPNU.

Streaming options for the game include the ESPN app, ESPN+ (for authenticated subscribers who provide TV login information) and Fubo, which offers a free trial.

The Wildcats have rarely tasted defeat when facing the Mountaineers over the years. And it’s hard to argue against an SEC team given the dizzying depth the league possesses. But this UK team isn’t the 2024 edition. (Or the 2023 one, for that matter.) Expect a few lead changes in this tight tussle. Just give the nod to the Mountaineers. West Virginia 5, Kentucky 4.

— Ryan Black, The Courier Journal

Kentucky is 29-24 in 2025, going 13-17 in SEC play during the regular season.

Click here to see the Wildcats’ full 2025 schedule.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.