Kentucky eliminated from SEC tourney in extra innings. What's next for Wildcats?
The University of Kentucky baseball team began the 2018 season riding the momentum of a 2017 campaign that took it to the brink of the school's first-ever College World Series.
When the Wildcats opened their second season under Coach Nick Mingione with a 14-2 record and ranked among the top 10 teams in the country this spring, most anything seemed possible.
What did not seem plausible, however, was that Kentucky would find itself squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble after dropping its final three games of the regular season at Vanderbilt, then falling to Auburn, 4-3 in 11 innings, in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Hoover, Ala., on Tuesday.
Kentucky (34-22 overall) finished 10th in the SEC with a 13-17 record during the regular season. The Wildcats, who went 20-20 after that 14-2 start, entered Tuesday as one of the "last five in," according to D1Baseball.com's NCAA Tournament projections and are left to pin their hopes on a sturdy No. 25 ranking in the RPI. The Cats undoubtedly will be on edge watching conference tournaments play out across the nation the rest of the week as the NCAA field of 64 is filled.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will be televised at noon Monday on ESPNU.
The Wildcats were eliminated Tuesday despite a stellar relief appearance by their usual ace starter, Sean Hjelle. Hjelle came on in the third inning with Kentucky trailing 3-1 and held Auburn scoreless until he departed after the 10th inning.
Mingione worked the nearly flawless Hjelle for 118 pitches before turning to Zack Thompson in the 11th. Thompson was quickly in trouble. He gave up a one-out single to Brett Wright, then walked Brendan Venter. He then worked Edouard Julien to a 3-2 count before the freshman drove a single to left-center to score Cade Evans — pinch-running for Wright — with the winning run.
Hjelle allowed only four hits, struck out nine and did not walk a batter in his 7 1/3 innings of relief.
No. 7 seed Auburn (38-19) advances to play No. 2 seed Ole Miss (42-14) on Wednesday.
Kentucky scored first Tuesday when Kole Cottam, the second batter of the day, cracked a solo home run to left field.
Auburn answered quickly when Will Holland tied the game with a homer of his own to left in the bottom of the first.
The Tigers got to Kentucky starter Daniel Harper for another pair of runs in the third inning. Steven Williams and Wright delivered back-to-back run-scoring hits to end Harper's day. Hjelle came on to strike out Venter to end the inning.
Kentucky crept back into the game as Hjelle kept the Tigers at bay over the ensuing innings.
Luke Becker brought home Tristan Pompey with Kentucky's second run in the fifth to trim Auburn's lead to 3-2.
That's where the score remained until the ninth inning, when Ryan Shinn led off for Kentucky with a double to right-center and was replaced with pinch-runner Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Trey Dawson and scored the tying run on a double by Kottam.
The teams went to extra innings tied 3-3.
This story was originally published May 22, 2018 at 7:37 PM with the headline "Kentucky eliminated from SEC tourney in extra innings. What's next for Wildcats?."