Kentucky baseball eliminated from SEC Tournament. Will it affect the Wildcats’ NCAA seed?
No. 3 seed Kentucky was eliminated from the 2024 SEC baseball tournament with a 6-5 loss to No. 10 seed South Carolina on Friday.
With Kentucky’s pitching depth already tested in the tournament, the Wildcats needed a strong pitching performance from starter Mason Moore to have a chance of advancing to the semifinals. Instead, Moore surrendered six runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked five batters and hit two more.
Still, the Wildcats led twice in the game. UK had a chance to tie it in the eighth inning after a one-out RBI double from first baseman Ryan Nicholson, but center fielder Nolan McCarthy lined into a double play to end the threat.
Kentucky went 1-2 in Hoover, Alabama, with losses to LSU and South Carolina and a win against Arkansas. Now, UK will have two extra days to prepare for next week’s NCAA Tournament.
Key moment
Despite Moore’s inconsistent control to that point, UK coach Nick Mingione tried to get one more inning from his starter with a 4-3 lead entering the bottom of the fifth inning. South Carolina shortstop Will Tippett, a .171 hitter entering the game, led off the inning with a home run. Moore retired the next two batters before loading the bases with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Moore hit another batter to give South Carolina the lead. Reliever Cameron O’Brien then walked the first batter he faced to force in a third run in the inning to give the Gamecocks a 6-4 advantage.
Player of the game
There was at least one positive development for Kentucky in the loss that could be important for next week’s NCAA Tournament regional. Freshman left-handed pitcher Ben Cleaver surrendered just one walk in two scoreless innings of relief with three strikeouts. Cleaver had pitched just 3 1/3 innings while dealing with an injury for much of the season. The addition of another reliever Mingione can trust could be vital to cover enough innings next week.
What’s next for Kentucky baseball
UK arrived in Hoover having already locked up one of the top eight seeds in the NCAA Tournament, ensuring the Wildcats will host the first two weekends if they advance through the regional. Now, Mingione’s team will have to wait until Monday to learn if it did enough to earn the No. 1 overall seed.
Entering Saturday’s games, D1Baseball.com projected UK as the top seed. Baseball America projected the Wildcats as the No. 3 overall seed, behind Tennessee and North Carolina. Tennessee might be able to lock up the top seed with another SEC Tournament win since it shared the regular-season title with UK and took two of three from the Wildcats in their head-to-head series.
The NCAA Tournament selection show is scheduled for noon Monday and will be televised on ESPN2. The tournament starts on Friday, May 31.
