Kentucky Baseball jumps to No. 17 in D1Baseball Top 25 Rankings

Kentucky jumped seven spots from No. 24 to No. 17 in D1Baseball’s latest Top 25 Rankings.

The Bat Cats began their week at home inside Kentucky Proud Park, where they held off Miami (OH) 9-5 to improve to 7-0 in midweek competition this season. The RedHawk pitching staff gifted the Cats 17 free bases, including four consecutive runs to propel Kentucky to the lead in the seventh inning.

They then took their No. 24 ranking into Oxford, MS, outscoring Ole Miss 37-13 over the weekend to sweep the Rebels on the road for the first time in program history.

Kentucky is just one of 10 SEC teams ranked in the Top 25, joined by No. 1 Arkansas, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 6 Florida, No. 7 Vanderbilt, No. 13 Alabama, No. 18 LSU, No. 22 South Carolina, and No. 23 Mississippi State.

D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers raved about the Cats on X/Twitter Sunday night.

“Speaking of impressive weekends, [Kentucky Baseball] has won 12 of its last 13 and scored 38 runs in three games in a ROAD series sweep over Ole Miss,” Rogers said. “Look for a sizable climb for [Kentucky] in this week’s rankings. Rebels suddenly in some serious trouble as well.”

Speaking of impressive weekends, @UKBaseball has won 12 of its last 13 and scored 38 runs in three games in a ROAD series sweep over Ole Miss. Look for a sizable climb for #UK in this week's rankings. Rebels suddenly in some serious trouble as well.

— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) March 31, 2024

Redshirt sophomore James McCoy had his best two-game span of the season in the final two games of the weekend series, going 7-8 at the plate with a double, two home runs, and five RBI. He finished a triple shy of a cycle on Sunday.

The Bat Cats are back in action on Tuesday, when they reignite the Battle of the Bluegrass against Louisville in Lexington. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. EST.

Tuesday’s matchup will be just Kentucky’s second game at home in the last two weeks.

Louisville won last season’s lone meeting 7-0 at Kentucky Proud Park, where Kentucky set the regular season attendance record at the park (5,292 fans).