Kentucky baseball heads into final week of regular season at No. 1 in both the SEC and RPI
With the final week of college baseball’s regular season on deck, Kentucky remains in position to host two weekends of the NCAA Tournament and perhaps be the No. 1 overall seed.
The Wildcats (37-11) won two of three games at Florida while Tennessee (42-10) did the same against Vanderbilt this past weekend, keeping UK in first place in the Southeastern Conference standings.
UK’s 20-7 record in SEC play has them one game ahead of the Vols (19-8) in the East with Georgia (16-11) far back in third. Arkansas (42-10, 19-8) leads the West by two games over Texas A&M (42-10, 17-10).
The Wildcats’ 20 conference wins have tied a school record and their 16 road wins are the most in program history.
Meanwhile, Kentucky moved up to No. 1 in the RPI rankings, jumping ahead of Texas A&M after a tough weekend series where the Wildcats earned a pair of 10-inning victories against the Gators.
Kentucky is 12-5 against ranked teams and 19-6 against Quad 1 opponents. UK’s total is the most Quad 1 wins in Division I.
The RPI rankings are dominated by the SEC and ACC with Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Clemson, Florida State, Wake Forest, and Indiana State rounding out the top 10.
Right now, the polls favor Tennessee with the Volunteers ranked No. 1 by both Baseball America and D1Baseball. The Wildcats, however, moved up to No. 2 in both those polls this week. The USA Today Coaches poll has Tennessee at No. 1, followed by Arkansas, Kentucky and Texas A&M.
The week ahead
▪ Kentucky gets things started at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday with a home game against nonconference foe Wright State (30-20), ranked 121st in the RPI. The Raiders have won three straight games and are 19-8 in Horizon League play.
Wright State’s roster includes former Boyle County standout Drew Barker, a junior catcher/outfielder who bats .341 with seven home runs and 22 RBI.
▪ The Wildcats finish their regular season at Kentucky Proud Park with a three-game series against Vanderbilt (34-18, 12-15). The Commodores are 28th in the RPI. The first game of the series is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, followed by matchups at 6:30 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday.
Statistical leaders
▪ Kentucky’s leading hitter is graduate infielder Nick Lopez with a .372 batting average to go with 18 doubles, five home runs and 43 RBI. Graduate infielder Ryan Nicholson has slugged 16 home runs and knocked in 48 runs, both team highs, while hitting .297. Junior outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt bats .354 with 14 doubles, nine home runs and 34 RBI, and junior infielder Emilien Pitre has knocked in 47 runs to go with his 17 doubles, six hone runs and a .305 average.
▪ Junior right-hander Mason Moore (8-1, 4.74 ERA) and graduate lefty Dominic Niman (8-4, 5.40 ERA) lead the Wildcats in wins and graduate right-hander Johnny Hummel (3-0, 3.33 ERA) has six saves.
