Baseball Cats Sport Strong NCAA Tournament Resume
The Kentucky baseball team is 34-22 this season, marking the seventh straight season in which the Wildcats have notched at least 30 victories, the longest such streak in school history. A deeper dive into the Wildcats’ 2018 record shows just how impressive it really is.
Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione feels that his team has done more than enough to earn an NCAA Tournament bid, with 34 wins and a current Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of 26 (through Thursday’s games). And when the tournament field is announced on Monday, the UK head coach expects his team to be chosen.
“When you look at what we’ve been able to accomplish, I’m really confident in what our team has done,” Mingione said. “I know the committee has a tough job, but I feel like we’ve got a lot of key victories. We’ve done a lot.”
Consider that Kentucky has eight wins against the current RPI Top 25 and another eight against RPI teams 26-50. That’s 16 wins record against the nation’s Top 50 teams. Only seven teams, Florida (25), Arkansas (21), Auburn (19), Texas Tech (18), Vanderbilt (18), Florida State (17) and Ole Miss (17), have more wins against the nation’s Top 50 teams.
Kentucky has also played an extremely challenging schedule. The Cats have played 32 games against the RPI top 50. Only six teams, Florida (37), Auburn (37), Vanderbilt (35), Mississippi State (34), South Carolina (34) and Arkansas (33), have played more Top 50 opponents.
Kentucky has also fared well in weekend series against Top 50 teams. The Wildcats have claimed six series victories over Top 50 teams this season, more than any team in the country except top-ranked Florida, which has eight such series wins. Kentucky has claimed series wins over No. 3 Georgia (on the road), No. 5 Texas Tech, No. 12 Auburn, No. 26 Mississippi State, No. 34 South Carolina and No. 38 Missouri. No team in the country has more series wins against Top 15 teams (three) than Kentucky.
“Our RPI speaks for itself and then our wins speak for themselves,” Mingione said. “The strength of our schedule is impressive. We’re 5-7 against the Top 5 RPI teams in the country.”
Kentucky also won a non-conference road game at No. 24 Indiana, split the regular season series with No. 27 Louisville and won neutral site games against No. 44 Houston and No. 53 Sam Houston State. The Wildcats were 21-4 against a tough non-conference slate in the regular season.
The Wildcats have also battled a number of significant injuries this season. Sophomore Zack Thompson, Kentucky’s Saturday starting pitcher, missed seven consecutive outings with an arm injury. Thompson returned late in the season, just as Kentucky’s Sunday starter, junior Justin Lewis, went down with an injury of his own. Relief pitchers Carson Coleman, Zack Haake, Mason Hazelwood and Chris Machamer have all missed time due to injury. And starting designated hitter T.J. Collett, who hit 10 home runs before missing the last 21 games, is out for the season with a hip injury.
Despite these injuries, Kentucky has continued to battle while facing one of the nation’s toughest schedules.
“When you go through how tough our schedule is and how tough our league is, it’s impressive,” Mingione said. “When you look at what our team has done and how good our league is this season, I don’t believe that anyone in our league should be punished for how good it is.”
As Kentucky waits to her its tournament placement, Mingione and his team are comfortable with the resume they have created this season.
