Kentucky Baseball to Appear Twelve Times on National TV
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky baseball team will appear on national television at least a dozen times in 2018, including its entire three-game series vs. Mississippi State that will close out the 50th and final regular season at Cliff Hagan Stadium, the Southeastern Conference announced Monday.
The Wildcats are scheduled to appear on ESPNU for home games against South Carolina (Apr. 8) and Mississippi State (May 11). The SEC Network will air 10 games, including: at Arkansas (Mar. 16; Bases Loaded coverage), Auburn (Mar. 24), South Carolina (Apr. 7), at Georgia (Apr. 14 and 15), Florida (Apr. 19 and 20), Missouri (Apr. 27) and Mississippi State (May 12 and 13).
The Apr. 19 game versus Florida at Cliff Hagan Stadium will be the SEC Network’s Thursday night showcase game.
The league’s schedule also includes television wildcard selections late in the season, allowing the SEC Network the opportunity to determine the best television matchup at a later date. The schedule closes out with SEC Network airing the entirety of the SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Ala. May 22-27, outside of the Championship game on ESPN2 on May 27.
Opening night of conference play, Fri., Mar. 16, the SEC Network will renew its Bases Loaded coverage, featuring every SEC team in a live, NFL RedZone channel-style compilation of seven games, including the Cats’ game at Arkansas. The entire SEC television schedule can be found at SECsports.com.
Kentucky will begin the 2018 season where it left off a year ago, as a top 10 team with plenty of buzz around the program. Baseball America, the longstanding staple of collegiate and prep baseball, ranked the Wildcats no. 8 in its preseason poll released on Tuesday. The No. 8 ranking is the highest ever for Kentucky in Baseball America‘s preseason top 25 poll.
The Cats are coming off a 43-win season that saw the program advance to its first-ever Super Regional and finish ranked in the top 10. All-American outfielder Tristan Pompey, second-team All-Southeastern Conference catcher Troy Squires, catcher/first baseman Kole Cottam and infielder Luke Becker return to what was a potent lineup last season and will be joined by one of the nation’s top junior college recruiting classes.
The Cats open their season at Wofford on Feb. 16 and have a home schedule loaded with quality opponents including defending national champion Florida, consensus preseason top five-ranked Texas Tech, Louisville, South Carolina and the final series at The Cliff when Mississippi State comes to town May 11-13. The full 2018 schedule can be found here.
