Kentucky Baseball Pre-SEC Tournament Postseason Update
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UK Athletics[/caption]
The BatCats dropped their final three games of the regular season and will most likely have to travel for next week's NCAA Tournament. Kentucky was a projected host team throughout the season, but a rough conference season hurt the Cats' chances of hosting a regional for the second consecutive year. UK's RPI and SOS are strong enough to be a host team, but their 13-17 conference record will drop them out of the hosting picture.
UK began to slip out of the hosting picture two weeks ago. Baseball America and D1 Baseball had the Cats traveling across the country to Oklahoma State or Oregon State two weeks ago, but it appears that UK might stay closer to home. In last week's projections, it was predicted that UK would be the two seed in North Carolina's Regional. UNC, NC State, Stetson, Minnesota, and Florida State are all potential host teams that could see UK join them in their four-team bracket.
[caption id="attachment_241694" align="aligncenter" width="644"]
D1 Baseball's latest projections.[/caption]
No team wants to see a healthy UK team in their regional. The Cats were a top ten team before they lost so many contributors due to injuries. It is expected that designated hitter T.J Collett will be out for the remainder of the season with a hip issue. The big question mark will be the health of the pitching staff. Justin Lewis, Carson Coleman, Zach Haake, and Chris Machamer were all out for last weekend's series at Vanderbilt. If all four of UK's injured arms return in some capacity, the Cats will be a sleeper pick as a two seed.
Before thinking about the NCAA Tournament, UK needs to worry about the first round of the SEC Tournament. The Cats take on Auburn in the single elimination round of the most talented conference tournament in the country. If UK gets past Auburn, they will play Ole Miss in the double-elimination portion of the tournament on Wednesday. The Cats' postseason run will begin Tuesday at 2 ET against Auburn. KSR will have coverage from Hoover and beyond for the BatCats.
@TreyHuntsmanKSR
UK Athletics[/caption]
The BatCats dropped their final three games of the regular season and will most likely have to travel for next week's NCAA Tournament. Kentucky was a projected host team throughout the season, but a rough conference season hurt the Cats' chances of hosting a regional for the second consecutive year. UK's RPI and SOS are strong enough to be a host team, but their 13-17 conference record will drop them out of the hosting picture.
UK began to slip out of the hosting picture two weeks ago. Baseball America and D1 Baseball had the Cats traveling across the country to Oklahoma State or Oregon State two weeks ago, but it appears that UK might stay closer to home. In last week's projections, it was predicted that UK would be the two seed in North Carolina's Regional. UNC, NC State, Stetson, Minnesota, and Florida State are all potential host teams that could see UK join them in their four-team bracket.
[caption id="attachment_241694" align="aligncenter" width="644"] D1 Baseball's latest projections.[/caption]
No team wants to see a healthy UK team in their regional. The Cats were a top ten team before they lost so many contributors due to injuries. It is expected that designated hitter T.J Collett will be out for the remainder of the season with a hip issue. The big question mark will be the health of the pitching staff. Justin Lewis, Carson Coleman, Zach Haake, and Chris Machamer were all out for last weekend's series at Vanderbilt. If all four of UK's injured arms return in some capacity, the Cats will be a sleeper pick as a two seed.
Before thinking about the NCAA Tournament, UK needs to worry about the first round of the SEC Tournament. The Cats take on Auburn in the single elimination round of the most talented conference tournament in the country. If UK gets past Auburn, they will play Ole Miss in the double-elimination portion of the tournament on Wednesday. The Cats' postseason run will begin Tuesday at 2 ET against Auburn. KSR will have coverage from Hoover and beyond for the BatCats.
@TreyHuntsmanKSR
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