Final Season Notes (31-25, 13-17 SEC – 9th place finish in SEC)

Team Game Notes

• After going 31-25 in 2010, Kentucky wrapped up its sixth consecutive winning season, just the second time in program history to have six consecutive winning seasons and the first in 98 years, dating back to 1905-1912.
• With 31 wins, UK totaled the 16th 30-or-more-win season in program history.
• UK used a true freshman pitcher in a total of 207 innings pitched this season, good for 42-percent of the innings pitched by the Wildcats in 2010.
  • A total of 72-percent of the innings pitched by Kentucky this season was by a first or second-year player.
  • With a true freshmen on the mound 42 percent of the time, UK ranked second in the SEC.
    • Percentage of innings by true freshmen (end of regular season team ERA) …
      1. Mississippi State: 53 percent (6.92 ERA)
      2. Kentucky: 42 percent (5.85 ERA)
      3. Florida: 35 percent (4.05 ERA)
         Editors note: 144 innings from 2 SP on All-SEC Freshman Team
      4. LSU: 21 percent (5.70 ERA)
      5. Arkansas: 17 percent (3.88 ERA)
      6. Alabama: 18 percent (5.08 ERA)
      7. Georgia: 15 percent (8.51 ERA)
      8. Tennessee: 12 percent (5.88 ERA)
      9. South Carolina: 12 percent (3.69 ERA)
      10. Auburn: 11 percent (4.86 ERA)
      11. Ole Miss: 3 percent (4.59 ERA)
      12. Vanderbilt: 1 percent (3.66 ERA)
• Kentucky had a total of six players with 10 or more homers, equaling a program record. The 1996 team had six players with 10 or more homers, the only other time in program history.
• Eight total players in 2010 had 30 or more RBI for Kentucky, equaling a school record. In 1988 and 1998, eight players had 30 or more RBI.
• With 83 total homers, UK ended the regular-season ranked second in the SEC.
  • 83 home runs is the most since the 2008 team hit 83 homers, with first-team All-American outfielders Sawyer Carroll and Collin Cowgill each hitting 19.
  • Just eight times in program history has UK hit 80 or more homers as a team.
• UK ranked throughout the SEC stats at the end of the regular season, checking in sixth in average (.302), fourth in slugging (.493), fourth in on-base percentage (.400), leading the SEC with 106 HBP.
  • UK tied an NCAA record after getting plunked by 10 pitches in a game March 6 against Monmouth in San Diego.
• The Wildcats played the seventh-toughest schedule in the nation and finished the regular-season with a No. 29 in the NCAA RPI.
  • UK had a stretch of facing a ranked opponent in 22 of 24 games and faced a ranked foe in a stretch of 16 consecutive games.
• Kentucky ranked tied for eighth in college baseball with a total of 16 wins over top 50 teams in the regular-season.
  • UK won nine games over teams in the top 15 in the RPI.
  • With 12 wins over top 25 RPI teams in 2010, Kentucky ranked fourth in college baseball, behind only national seeds Florida (16), Arizona State (14) and Virginia (13).
• UK led the conference with 120 stolen bases, with Tennessee finishing second with 76 steals.
  • UK’s 120 stolen bases are the most since UK stole a school-record 142 in 1996.
    • Only three times in program history has UK stolen over 100 bases.
• The Wildcats fell in four walk-off losses on the road to teams ranked in the top 15 in the NCAA RPI, entering the final inning in all four games holding a lead (at No. 6 Louisville: L, 9-10; at No. 9 Arkansas: L, 16-17; at No. 12 Vanderbilt: L, 8-9; at No. 14 Auburn: L, 5-6).
• UK suffered a total of 13 losses by one or two runs.

Individual Game Notes

• Chris Bisson was named second-team All-SEC second base by the league coaches, earning the honor for the second consecutive season. Bisson was the first UK player to earn All-SEC accolades in back-to-back seasons since catcher John Wilson was named All-SEC in 1999 and 2000.
  • Bisson led the SEC in stolen bases, swiping 32-of-39 bases.
    • With over 30 steals, Bisson became the first UK player to steal 30 or more bases since Andy Green stole a school-record 55 in 1996.
    • Bisson’s 32 steals ranks tied for sixth in UK single-season history and his 39 attempts ranks tied for fifth.
    • In his three-year career, Bisson has stolen 48 bases in 60 attempts.
      • With 48 career steals, Bisson ranks sixth in UK history and his 60 career attempts ranks sixth-most in UK annals.
• Senior Keenan Wiley started all 56 games for UK in centerfield, and ended his career on a 97-game consecutive starting streak.
  • Wiley finished the season batting .324 (66-for-204) with a career-high equaling four homers and 37 RBI, with a team-best 20 RBI coming with two outs.
  • In games UK won, Wiley batted a club-best .393 (44-for-112) with seven doubles, one triple, three homers and 26 RBI, drawing 10 walks and striking out just nine times. In games UK lost, Wiley hit .239 (22-for-92) with no doubles or triples, one homer and 11 RBI, drawing eight walks and striking out 11 times.
  • Wiley ranks throughout the UK career record book …
    • Games played (214): third
    • Games started (189): tied-seventh
    • At bats (751): fourth
    • Hits (230): sixth
    • Sacrifices (28): second
    • Stolen bases (36): tied-12th
    • Stolen base attempts (49): 10th
• Fifth-year senior catcher Marcus Nidiffer wrapped up his career playing in 153 games and making 121 starts.
  • Nidiffer hit a career-high .320 (47-for-147) in 2010, with 10 homers and a career-high 35 RBI, the second consecutive season with 10 homers and at least 30 RBI.
  • Nidiffer owns a .284 (121-for-426) career average, with 18 doubles, two triples, 25 homers and 84 RBI.
  • Nidiffer ranked second in the SEC in pickoffs (four), ranking tied for first with James McCann among catchers.
• Shortstop Taylor Black totaled a .270 average (48-for-178), starting 55 of UK’s 56 games at shortstop, with 11 homers and 37 RBI.
  • With double-digit homers, Black became the first UK shortstop with 10 or more homers since Eddie Brooks hit 14 homers in 1993.
  • After starting the first 12 games at shortstop to open the season, Black was hitting .182 (6-for-33) with five runs, one double, no homers, five RBI, one walk and eight strikeouts.
    • Black was left out of the starting lineup on March 12 against IPFW, and after that game, he hit .290 (42-for-145) with five doubles, 11 homers and 32 RBI, starting the last 44 games of the season.
  • Black was hit by a team-high 20 pitches in 2010, ranking tied for second in UK single-season history. Outfielder Antone DeJesus was hit by 20 pitches in 2007, with catcher Tyler Howe’s 27 HBP in 2008 ranking first in UK history.
  • Black laid down a team-high equaling eight sacrifice bunts in 2010, ranking tied for 14th in UK single-season history.
  • Black finished the regular season ranked second in defensive assists in the SEC (175) and 11th in double plays (34).

• Senior Gunner Glad led UK with 12 home runs and 45 RBI, playing in all 56 games and batting .336 (72-for-214) with 11 doubles and one triple.
  • Glad led UK with 49 runs scored, draw 27 walks and stealing three bases.
  • Glad registered team highs in multi-hit games (21) and multi-RBI games (11), leading UK with 29 two-out hits. Glad finished third on the team with 18 two-out RBI and led the team with 25 two-strike hits.
  • Glad reached base safely in 52 of his 55 starts on the season.
  • During a span of six games in the middle of conference play, Glad launched five homers.
  • Had a 10-game stretch with an RBI from March 30-April 11.
  • Ran up an 11-game hitting streak from April 20-May 9.
  • Hit .311 (37-for-119) in SEC play, with four doubles, one triple, seven homers and 21 RBI.
• Junior Lance Ray established himself as one of the top hitters in college baseball in the final half of the season, starting 21 games to end the regular season.
  • • Ray led UK with a .356 average (42-for-118) with 29 runs, 11 doubles, one triple, 10 homers and 34 RBI, drawing 20 walks and striking out 21 times in 29 starts and 41 games.
    • After struggling early in the season, Ray credits a pitch-hit, go-ahead RBI single against Alabama as a turning point on the campaign. After that RBI single, Ray batted .424 (36-for-85) with 24 runs, 10 doubles, one triple, nine homers and 30 RBI, drawing 16 walks and striking out just 14 times.
  • Sophomore Braden Kapteyn totaled two wins and two saves on the mound and now owns six career saves and a 7-0 career mark on the bump.
    • With six career saves, Kapteyn ranks 12th in UK career history.
  • After making just one start in the first 48 games of the season, freshman outfielder Brian Adams earned eight consecutive starts to finish the season.
    • A scholarship wide receiver on the football team, Adams was red hot to end the season, batting .483 (14-for-29) over the eight-game starting streak to end the season, with three doubles, one triple, one homer and seven RBI.
    • In those eight games, Adams started each contest in leftfield, adding two outfield assists and robbing LSU All-American outfielder Mikie Mahtook of a home run over the leftfield fence late in the game of a UK win.
    • Adams had the game of his career in the final game of the 2010 season, going a career-high 4-for-5 with three runs scored and a career-best six RBI.
      • Adams had hit first career homer and triple in the final game of the year at Georgia, with his homer coming as a grand slam, a no-doubt jack over the left-centerfield fence. Triple was a shot off the opposite-field fence, bounced off the very top of the wall.
  • Freshman southpaw Taylor Rogers became the first UK freshman to lead UK in innings pitched since 2005, when lefty Andrew Albers tossed 80.2 innings to lead the Kentucky pitching staff.
    • Rogers started all 14 games in the UK weekend rotation, going 83 innings and totaling a 4-7 record and a 6.40 ERA.
    • Rogers walked only 15 in his 83 innings, ranking fourth in the league in terms of fewest walks per qualifying pitchers (1.0 IP per team game).
    • Rogers worked a stretch of 35 consecutive innings without issuing a walk until walking one in the second inning of a start at Auburn.
    • Rogers ranked eighth in the SEC in innings pitched at the end of the regular-season, ranking first among SEC freshmen.
  • Junior Matt Little recorded seven saves on the year, good for the second-most saves in single-season history, one shy of Paul Morse’s 1993 record.
    • With seven saves, Little is tied with Tom Deller (1986-89) and Breck Price (1999-2000) for 10th in UK career history.
    • Little ranked sixth in the SEC with 18 games finished and fifth in saves (seven).