Kentucky outfielder Braxton Van Cleave receives national weekly honor

Kentucky baseball’s Braxton Van Cleave picked up not one, but two big-time honors after an impressive weekend at Kentucky Proud Park.

After being tabbed as the SEC’s Freshman of the Week on Monday, the rookie outfielder was named to Baseball America’s Week 12 National College Team of the Week on Tuesday. Van Cleave was huge in Kentucky’s series win over a then-ranked Tennessee squad this past weekend. He recorded multiple hits in all three games, including a career-high three hits during the lone series loss on Sunday.

“Van Cleave provided a mature, steady performance for the Wildcats when they needed it most, going 7-for-14 with two home runs, a double and six RBIs while striking out just once over three games,” Jacob Rudner of Baseball America wrote. “The freshman outfielder reached base in half of his plate appearances during the week, which saw Kentucky win a series over Tennessee to likely save its tournament hopes.”

Van Cleave is now riding a 10-game hitting streak since becoming a full-time starter in the Vanderbilt series. The Lone Star State native is hitting 15-40 (.375) during this stretch with three doubles, five home runs, and 15 RBI. His performance against Tennessee was arguably his best series of the season so far.

The honors keep rolling in for BVC!@Braxton_VC named to @BaseballAmerica Week 12 National Team of the Week!

🗒️ https://t.co/lpWpAUwfTq@JacobRudner | @UKAthletics pic.twitter.com/vinEgaPJKD

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) May 5, 2026

With plenty of help from Van Cleave, Kentucky beat the Volunteers 9-2 on Friday and run-ruled them 12-2 in eight innings on Saturday, but came up short of pulling off the sweep with a tight 10-9 defeat on Sunday. UK is now projected as a 3-seed in Baseball America’s latest bracket projections, joining a four-team group out in Lawrence, KS, that also includes Kansas (1-seed), Oregon (2-seed), and Wright State (4-seed).

Maintaining that seeding will not be easy, though. Kentucky has two regular-season series remaining on the schedule. Up first is a road series this weekend against No. 13 Florida, followed by a home series against No. 14 Arkansas the next weekend. Mixed in between will be a non-conference showdown against Northern Kentucky on May 12.

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