It can be hard to keep up with everything going on in the University of Kentucky’s 22 varsity sports. With that in mind, we will highlight the best from around Kentucky sports each week. We’ll recognize the best performances from Wildcat teams and players, we’ll show you the coolest videos and photos that you may have missed and we’ll mix in some new stuff along the way. Here are your award winners for this week:
Co-Teams of the Week: Men’s tennis advances to third straight Sweet 16, Baseball regains SEC lead
This past weekend, two Kentucky teams put themselves in advantageous positions for their postseason hopes.
The men’s tennis team entered the weekend as the No. 6 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, hosting a Regional on their home turf. The talented group of Wildcats used its home court advantage to blow past both Radford and Indiana in the first and second round, respectively, with 4-0 victories.
While the tennis team was taking care of business across the street at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center, the baseball team was working on a sweep over Alabama at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Kentucky junior southpaw Taylor Rogers went seven innings of two-run baseball in game one as the Wildcats pulled out 4-2. Sunday’s weather forecast forced the hand of each team, eventually causing them to play two on Saturday.
With UK sitting behind both South Carolina and LSU heading into the weekend, Kentucky’s sweep of the doubleheader Saturday gave them the slightest lead in the conference heading into next weekend. The Wildcats came back from a 5-1 deficit with a five-run seventh inning in game one on senior day, eventually taking the game 7-6. They then slugged their way to a 7-1 win in the rain that clinched a series sweep over the Crimson Tide.
The sweep over the weekend gives UK the overall lead in the conference and an opportunity to control its own destiny as far as the conference championship and the top seed in the SEC Tournament heading into Starkville, Miss. to face Mississippi State this weekend.
Player of the Week: Quigley sharp in start to NCAA Tournament run
Kentucky men’s tennis player Eric Quigley is the third-ranked player in the nation. He showed why this weekend in help leading his team to wins over Radford and Indiana this weekend.
In the first round, Quigley and doubles partner Panav Jha helped earn the all-important doubles point with an 8-5 win. Then Quigley took to singles and, despite some rust from a lengthy layoff, handled an overmatched opponent in Radford’s Nick Sayer. It was far from Quigley’s best performance, but the 6-2, 6-1 score would suggest he was still rather successful.
In round two, it was more of the same for Quigley and the Wildcats. Quigley and Jha helped grab the doubles point to start the match, 8-3. Then, the third-best player in the country loosened up and dismissed Indiana’s top singles player Isade Juneau, 6-1, 6-0. It was a short and sweet victory, and with his teammates taking care of business on surrounding courts, the all-time winningest player in Kentucky tennis history advanced to the Sweet 16.
Game of the Week: Baseball rallies for first of two twinbill wins
The skies were cloudy and Kentucky’s chances in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader looked grim after falling behind to Alabama 5-1. The big hit eluded Kentucky’s bats and UK struggled in the field while Alabama mounted its lead. It was far from the game the Kentucky seniors had hoped for on their Senior Day, at least up until the seventh inning.
Then things got interesting.
The Cats loaded the bags in the bottom of the seventh, trailing 5-1. Cameron Flynn started the chipping away of the Alabama lead with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2. Senior Michael Williams came through with a big single that plated a run. J.T. Riddle laced a two-out, two-RBI double to tie things up at 5. And UK finally regained the lead after Brian Adams grounded to second base, but the second baseman booted it allowing the go-ahead run to score.
After Alabama tied it in the eighth, Williams came through once more with patience rather than his normal aggression, and worked a bases-loaded walk which accounted for the winning run. Trevor Gott, who put out the fire in the eighth inning, worked a scoreless ninth and picked up his third win of the season to help UK take the series win.
Video of the Week – Senior Day highlight package
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Picture of the Week – Henderson encourages crowd during Senior Day festivities
Alumnus of the Week: Sean Woods named head coach at Morehead State
A member of the Unforgettables is getting a chance to create another unforgettable experience for himself. Former Kentucky basketball player Sean Woods is set to become Morehead State’s 13th head coach in program history with a press conference set to introduce him on Monday at 2 p.m.
Woods is fifth on the all-time Kentucky career assist list with 482 and perhaps had his biggest game in a Wildcat uniform against Duke in 1992, scoring 21 points in the Regional Final.
Woods comes to Morehead State after four years as head coach at Mississippi Valley State University.
