Kentucky Falls to No. 19 in Latest College Baseball Rankings

After downing Tennessee Tech 9-2 on Tuesday and dropping two of three in Knoxville over the weekend to now ranked No. 18 Tennessee, the Bat ‘Cats fell to No. 19 in D1Baseball’s latest Top 25 Rankings. Kentucky is also ranked No. 20 by Baseball America.

Although they dropped the first two games of the weekend to the Vols, Sunday’s victory ensured that Kentucky would stay ahead of Tennessee in the SEC standings. As of Monday morning, the ‘Cats sit at 15-12 in conference play, good for fourth in the SEC East and sixth in the entire SEC. If the SEC Tournament were to start tomorrow, Kentucky would be facing off against Missouri in the First Round. Kentucky swept Missouri by a combined score of 25-3 back in late March.

There is still one more week of regular season play remaining, however, and the ‘Cats are in for a doozy as No. 4 ranked Florida comes to town on Thursday.

The Gators are fresh off a sweep of No. 12 Vanderbilt over the weekend and sport two projected 2023 MLB Draft first-round picks in OF Wyatt Langford and RHP Hurston Waldrep. Along with those future pros, superstar sophomore Jac Caglianone leads all of college baseball in home runs hit (27). With a series loss/sweep this weekend, the ‘Cats could fall as far as a nine seed in the SEC Tournament.

But with a series win/sweep, the ‘Cats could hypothetically jump all the way to a possible four-seed, avoiding first-round play entirely if the cards fell in their favor. There’s still a lot of baseball to be played this week.

Jackson Gray continued his stellar play over the weekend, going 5-12 from the plate. Gray’s batting average has skyrocketed to .375, as he now leads the team in batting average, hits (66), triples (six), and SLG% (.608). The WKU transfer has been a slam dunk this season for Nick Mingione and company. After allowing a combined 20 runs over the first two games of the series, the Wildcat pitching staff shut out the Vols on Sunday. It was just the first time Tennessee has been shut out all season. Good vibes are always important heading into a high-profile series.

First pitch between No. 19 Kentucky and No. 4 Florida on Thursday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. EST. It is Kentucky’s final homestand of the season, so grab a $9 beer and pack Kentucky Proud Park.

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