Resume Rundown: Kentucky baseball on track to host for first time since 2017

Kentucky baseball has hit rough patch the past two weekends going a combined 2-4 in consecutive SEC series against Georgia and LSU. Despite the losses, Nick Mingione’s team has a rock-solid resume entering the sixth conference series of the 2023 season.

Kentucky hosts Texas A&M this weekend at Kentucky Proud Park for three games. The Wildcats are not a projected top-eight national seed, but are knocking on the door after a dominant home win against Xavier earlier this week.

KSR’s Resume Rundown is taking a look at the current NCAA Tournament window for the Bat Cats.

Projected host

In this week’s projected field of 64 put together by D1 Baseball, Kentucky is the No. 10 overall seed drawing Indiana State, West Virginia, and Southeast Missouri State in the Lexington region. The winner of this pod would face the winner of the Gainesville regional (Florida, Southern Miss, Virginia Tech, and Maine) in a super regional. The winner would advance to the College World Series.

Kentucky might want to pencil in that draw right now.

The Wildcats would draw just one other power conference team in this pod and should be considered a strong favorite to move out of that region.

Here’s how D1 Baseball has the top 16 seeds shaking out.

1. LSU
2. Wake Forest
3. Vanderbilt
4. Arkansas
5. South Carolina
6. Virginia
7. Florida
8. East Carolina
9. Stanford
10. Kentucky
11. Coastal Carolina
12. Oregon
13. Texas
14. Miami
15. UConn
16. Indiana

Kentucky still holds top spot in RPI

College baseball still uses the ratings percentage index (RPI) to determine postseason seeding. The numbers baked into this system love what Kentucky has done this season.

The Bat Cats (29-7, 10-5) are No. 1 in RPI with 10 true road wins and zero Quad 4 losses. Kentucky leads college baseball with 17 Quad 1 wins with a dominating 19-1 record at Kentucky Proud Park. Nick Mingione’s ballclub has been outstanding against mid-week opponents. That has gone a long way to raising the floor of this team’s resume.

There is a lot of baseball left to be played, but it would be hard to envision a 2023 NCAA Tournament without Kentucky at this point. The Cats could be a couple SEC series wins away from clinching a top-16 seed.

The weekend ahead

A three-game series with Texas A&M begins on Friday night in Lexington. The Aggies are fresh off a College World Series appearance in 2022, but have had some struggles in 2023. Jim Schlossnagle’s squad enters the series in Lexington with a 23-14 (7-8) mark. However, the Aggies are safely in the NCAA Tournament field ranking No. 44 in RPI with seven Quad 1 wins and limited bad losses.

Kentucky will have a great opportunity to add some quality wins to the resume at Kentucky Proud Park this weekend.