Now that Kentucky baseball has made the NCAA Tournament, can the Cats surprise?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky secured NCAA bid despite four straight losses entering Selection Monday.
- Wildcats face Clemson, West Virginia, and USC Upstate in challenging regional.
- Close SEC losses and competitive play suggest potential for strong tournament run.
Nick Mingione was not satisfied with his postgame talk with his Kentucky baseball players after the Wildcats’ SEC Tournament loss to Oklahoma, so he wanted to meet with the team again before it left Hoover, Alabama.
Mingione felt confident that his squad was still deserving of an NCAA Tournament bid, but he knew the Wildcats had ceded control of their destiny by losing four straight entering Selection Monday. He wanted to make sure players knew where things stood entering what seemed likely to be a tense week of waiting, so he brought the group together again Wednesday morning.
“I’m sure for them, it was a bit of a roller coaster, but my message to them was really clear the whole time,” Mingione said. “It’s just like, I still believe in this team.”
Even after the SEC Tournament loss, Kentucky looked safely in the NCAA Tournament field, but as unexpected results began to pile up in conference tournaments across the country the available at-large bids began to dwindle. By Monday morning both of the most prominent national projections had dropped Kentucky to the first team out of the field.
As ESPN unveiled the bracket just after noon Monday, the drama grew. With the 16 regional hosts already announced and Kentucky unable to be placed in any of the eight regionals hosted by SEC rivals, Mingione and company found themselves down to their last possible destination before learning they had actually made the field as the No. 3 seed in Clemson’s regional.
While the tension ended up being overplayed because the selection committee did not even have Kentucky among its final four teams in the field, the release was evident as players roared in excitement after the Wildcats’ bid was revealed.
Now the question is whether the team’s ceiling is higher than simply making the tournament.
“I can look you in the eye and tell you that I really believe that we’re one of the best teams in the country, and that we can beat some of the best teams in the country,” Mingione said Tuesday. “With that said, we can also be beaten by any team.”
Mingione claims to have whittled down the more than 5,600 pitches thrown in Kentucky games this season to nine plays that could have turned the Wildcats from bubble team into back-to-back SEC champions had they all gone the other way. While it is impossible to assume the outcome of games would be different based on any one play due to the cascading effect those plays might have had, there is ample evidence that Kentucky has the potential to surprise in the tournament.
Of Kentucky’s 17 regular season SEC losses, 11 came by one or two runs. Kentucky led at some point in 28 of 31 games against SEC foes.
The Wildcats won one game in series against regional hosts Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas. They took two of three in a series against No. 14 overall seed Tennessee. Even in the four-game losing streak to end the regular season, the Wildcats led in the ninth inning twice against No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt.
“I think the SEC does a great job of preparing us for any team we play,” left-handed reliever Evan Byers said. “It’s the best conference in America, in my opinion. And so being able to play these teams, these caliber teams, each and every weekend, prepares us to play any team in the postseason that we’re capable of beating.”
While it might be logical to assume Kentucky’s close losses in SEC play might have been wins in other conferences, it is difficult to know for sure based on the Wildcats’ play to date. UK’s nonconference strength of schedule was ranked 191st nationally. Kentucky’s only games against power conference competition outside the SEC came in two midweek games against rival Louisville, which the Wildcats split.
To advance to the second weekend of the tournament, Kentucky will need to emerge from a double-elimination regional that also features No. 11 overall seed Clemson, Big 12 champion West Virginia and Big South champion South Carolina Upstate. This Kentucky team has bounced back from adversity before this season, but the momentum is working against the Wildcats after four straight losses in a scenario where just one win was viewed as enough to guarantee a tournament bid.
The reality for a program that had never reached the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons before this week and had to replace almost the entire roster from the first College World Series team in program history is it would be difficult to characterize the season as a disappointment regardless of what happens this weekend.
Just don’t expect Mingione or his players to agree with that assessment now that they have been given a chance to extend their run.
“We’re very close,” shortstop Tyler Bell said. “We have been all year, and it just really shows that we’re one of the best teams in the country, and we can beat anybody and play with anybody.”
Clemson Regional schedule
Friday
Game 1: No. 3 seed Kentucky vs. No. 2 West Virginia, Noon (ESPNU)
Game 2: No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 South Carolina Upstate, 6 p.m. (ACC Network)
Saturday
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, Noon (TBA)
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m. (TBA)
Sunday
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, Noon (TBA)
Game 6: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 6 p.m. (TBA)
Monday (if necessary)
Game 6: Same teams as Game 6 (TBA)