I am late in keeping up with the baseball team, as I have had a busy week and have barely been able to keep the tumbleweeds from rolling through this place. Apologies to all concerned.
This weekend, starting tonight, the Kentucky Wildcats take on the defending SEC champion Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville. Series particulars as follows, courtesy of UKAthletics.com:
| Records | |||||||
| Kentucky – 35-7, 13-5 SEC | |||||||
| Vanderbilt – 19-22, 7-11 SEC | |||||||
| Rankings | |||||||
| Kentucky: No. 1 (Collegiate Baseball), No. 3 (USA Today/ESPN coaches), No. 3 (NCBWA), No. 2 (Baseball America) | |||||||
| Vanderbilt: not ranked | |||||||
| Schedule (times Eastern and subject to change) -- Nashville, Tenn. | |||||||
| Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |||||
| 07:30:00 PM | 03:00:00 PM | 02:00:00 PM | |||||
| Radio (UK IMG Radio Network with Neil Price) | |||||||
| Friday, Saturday, Sunday: WLAP 630-AM in Lexington; WKJK 1080-AM in Louisville | |||||||
| Live audio and stats on UKathletics.com | |||||||
| Tentative Pitching Matchups | |||||||
| Friday at Vanderbilt | |||||||
| Jr., LHP Taylor Rogers (4-2, 5.01 ERA) vs. So., RHP TJ Pecoraro (0-1, 3.71 ERA) | |||||||
| Saturday at Vanderbilt | |||||||
| Jr., LHP Jerad Grundy (4-1, 4.24 ERA) vs. Fr., RHP Tyler Beede (1-4, 4.78 ERA) | |||||||
| Sunday at Vanderbilt | |||||||
| So., LHP Corey Littrell (6-0, 2.51 ERA) vs. So., LHP Kevin Ziomek (3-6, 5.44 ERA) | |||||||
As you all no doubt know, the Wildcats got creamed again by rival Louisville this past Tuesday, 10-2, completing the season sweep for the Cardinals. Last time that happened on April 10th, the Wildcats rebounded to defeat then #1 LSU Tigers in a 3-game series in Lexington.
The Commodores have been a shell of their former selves this year. In their most recent outing against Alabama, the 6-12 Elephants took two victories off Vanderbilt in Tuscaloosa. But the Commodores are now riding a two-game winning streak, and they get the Wildcats at home.
Vanderbilt has a team batting average of only .270, despite having the fifth-leading hitter in the SEC, Anthony Gomez (.376) and Spencer Navin at .325. Gomez has collected the third most hits of any batsman in the league with 62 so far, including seven doubles, two triples, one homer and 38 RBI's. Vandy sits near the middle of the pack in on-base% (.374), runs scored, and RBI's.
Pitching, though, has been the big problem with Vandy's season, as they sit near the bottom of the SEC in ERA (4.41) and opposing batting average (.258). Vandy has had trouble fielding the ball as well, committing 60 errors and sporting a fielding percentage of .961 (2nd worst in the SEC in both stats).
Kentucky has only four series left in their season including this one, and they currently lead the Eastern division by 2 games over the Florida Gators, who comes to Lexington next weekend.
Use this post as an open thread for all the baseball games this weekend.
Go, 'Cats!
RELATED: Vanderbilt's pre-game at VUCommodores.com
UK Season Statistics
Vanderbilt Season Statistics
Anchor of Gold, SB Nation's Vanderbilt Blog