Photo Credit: UK Athletics
I am no financial advisor by any means, but if you could buy stock in this year's Kentucky baseball team I would recommend you to buy it now. Last week the Bat Cats were ranked as high as No. 12 in the country in some standings, but according to D1baseball.com they had the Wildcats firmly in the top twenty-five at seventeenth overall.
Since the rankings were updated last, Kentucky has played in three games where they found a sweep over the No. 13 Alabama Crimson Tide on their home field inside of Kentucky Proud Park. This would total in at three conference series sweeps on the young and promising season.
Kentucky was also scheduled to host in-state rival Louisville last Tuesday night but unfortunately due to severe weather in the area the game got postponed until Wednesday night. The next day later it would get postponed again (weather) indefinitely and a new date has not been announced. Regardless, Kentucky still went 3-0 during the week against a top-15 team and has moved to an overall record of 27-4 and 11-1 in the SEC.
This is good enough to move the Bat Cats to number eight in the country, according to D1baseball.com.
This is a huge jump in the standings for the Wildcats and rightfully so. They’re off to the best start in program history and it is finally granting them some recognition on a national level. After a couple of disappointing seasons in 2021 and 2022, Nick Mingione needed to get the program back on track and the last two seasons he has managed to just that using his club to bring a new level of excitement for baseball in the Bluegrass.
As you can see from the crowd on Saturday, Mingione's group is not only good on the field but off the field as well. They took the time after their shutout victory to meet with fans for photo opportunities and autographs. This was welcomed amongst the Big Blue Nation as the Commonwealth needs something to get excited about and baseball has given us exactly that.
As the weekend came to a close, fans will have to wait a little while to see the team back in action inside KPP. The Wildcats are going on a five-game road trip stretch as the first game comes tomorrow night against the Samford Bulldogs. Following that lone game against Samford, Kentucky will stick around the state to take on the Auburn Tigers in a three-game series from Thursday-Saturday.