Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
(Britney McIntosh/UK Athletics)
Kentucky baseball took the field today on top of their bracket, having yet to lose a game in the SEC tournament. But because of the new format, which allows an additional two teams to play in Hoover (due in part to the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M for next season), the semifinal rounds move to single-elimination, versus double elimination from the previous four days.
Despite Kentucky knocking off Mississippi State on Thursday, this rematch was loser-go-home. And unfortunately, Kentucky is heading home. The Cats lost the pitcher’s duel, 2-1 on the heels of the Bulldogs seventh win in their last eight tries and their fourth win over Kentucky in the last five meetings, all in a little over a week.
Kentucky had a quality start from sophomore Corey Littrell, who tossed six innings, giving up six hits and only two earned runs while striking out six. It was just the kind of outing the Cats needed going forward, if they wanted a shot to win the Championship game tomorrow: saving the bullpen for back-to-back games. But it wasn’t meant to be. Littrell had almost no run support in the contest, with the only run coming from a J.T. Riddle solo-home run in the 2nd inning.
The bats just weren’t connecting at the right time for the Cats. While they collected nine hits on the afternoon, some untimely strikeouts and popups killed rallies and ended potential run-scoring innings. 3-4-5 hitters, Luke Maile, A.J. Reed and Michael Williams combined for seven of the team’s eight strikeouts. Not what you want from the heart of your order.
Mississippi State used plenty of small ball to score their two runs, with leadoff singles, SAC bunts and RBI singles in back-to-back innings in the 2nd and 3rd. Kentucky brought in Taylor Rogers for his second relief appearance in this SEC tournament and shut down the Bulldogs in his three innings of work. It was a beautifully pitched game for the Cats, for the third straight game.
There was just no offensive momentum this time around. Kentucky left eight runners stranded on base, including six in scoring position. The opportunities were there but the Cats, uncharacteristically, could not seize the moment.
The loss means Kentucky will be out of the running for a top-eight national seed, but they will surely secure a Regional site for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The big question now becomes, will the NCAA drop Louisville in the Lexington regional? There is a high likelihood of that happening, and this time the game will actually mean something. The Cardinals have beaten the Cats handily in the two regular season meetings, but they have yet to see any of Kentucky’s three weekend starters. Time will tell, but smart money is on that happening.
The UK baseball team will head back to Lexington to rest for the NCAA tournament, which begins Friday June 1. Super Regionals begin a week after that, followed by the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska on June 15.
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Bill Keightley Report : Never to be forgotten.
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May 26th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Great season so far Bat Cats. Congrats on a great run to the semifinals. You guys have brought excitement and always played with class and heart. Good luck in the regionals and super regionals if you get that far. Good luck the rest of the season. BBN is proud of you guys and all your hard work.
May 26th, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Oh, well that’s a shame.
May 26th, 2012 at 6:40 pm
Ever who set up this tournament is a idiot because MSU had lost a game and UK was undefeated so i think they should have to beat UK twice to move on. You lose once and you are rewarded for it to a single elimanation. UK Bat Cats got screwed in this tournment and if Florida wins so will Vandy because FLA has lost also. They really need to look at the way this is set up and do some serious changes. GO UK CATS!!!!!!
May 26th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
I only like my basekeetball cayuts. I got a third mortgage on my pickup in orderby tickets to watch my cayuts win 8.
May 26th, 2012 at 7:27 pm
Its baseball…. Therefore no one cares!
May 26th, 2012 at 8:48 pm
BBN is proud of the way they played during the season but certainly not the way they finished. They certainly didn’t display the heart and the grit of an MSU and Vandy during the tourney run. They choked down the stretch run…it started with a total 2 game blowout by UL. It continued with an embarrasing loss to Murray State, then a 3 game series sweep by MSU to end the season, and followed up with blown opportunity to advance to finals. They started the season off with a mind blowing 22 game winning streak and then played not much above 500 rest of the year.
May 27th, 2012 at 12:48 am
The losses to Louseyville were EMBARASSING!!!…It was not the pitching that cost KENTUCKY the games, it was a PATHETIC display of hitting..Outscored 22-2 in two games is pitiful…#5 if you don’t care you should be ashamed ..It is basketball only fols like you, Matt Jones and others who hold the rest of the programs, especially football, back..Be a fan of KENTUCKY or get the hell out!!!
May 27th, 2012 at 3:47 am
wow sweet picture…lol. i hope that was a breaking ball. couldnt have been swinging and missing that bad on fastball.
7: poor hitting doesn’t get 22 runs scored on you. couldve had a great 2 games of hitting and still lost with that. that is tough way to end a spectacular season.
5: If you dont care about ky baseball can you please just keep your mouth shut. the only thing no one cares about, is your opinion.
May 27th, 2012 at 10:55 am
I’m developing a website site and I was thinking of switching the template.Yours looks pretty decent! You could visit my site and tell me your viewpoint!
May 27th, 2012 at 11:23 am
I hope they don’t keep this format, it is God awful. Its either a double elimination tournament or not. You cannot have it both ways.
May 27th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Why was the game on Comcast ? It was blackout on Dish. the second game of the SEC was shown. Why? The ACC was on ESPN, ESPU, Espn2 and on the fox channels.