Kentucky Wildcats Baseball Moves Up in USA Today Coaches Ranking

The Kentucky Wildcats improved to 18-7 on Saturday. After starting 0-4, the Wildcats have won 18 of 21 since, including taking 2 of 3 against the former 14th ranked Ole Miss this weekend. What does that mean for the Wildcats? How about the 19th rank in this week’s USA Today Coaches Poll.

The Wildcats entered last week ranked 25th. It was the first time they have been ranked in a major college poll for consecutive weeks since 2012. The Wildcats also ranked 16th in the Baseball America rankings after going unranked last week. They also ranked 16th in RPI, climbing from 31st last week.

The Kentucky Wildcats have already run through Ole Miss, UC Santa Barbara, and Texas A&M. All three of those teams have been to the NCAA tournament in the last year.

During this run, Kentucky’s pitchers have led this team. Logan Salow was named the SEC Conference Pitcher of the Week. This is the second week that a Wildcat has taken home this honor as Sean Hjelle earned the honor last week.

As for the bats, they have not been silenced during this run. Zach Reks has played in 24 of the 25 games, batting .371 with 21 runs scored, and 18 RBI’s. Marcus Carson has played in every game with a .350 batting average, 20 RBI’s, and 54 taken bases.

The Wildcats will host the Cincinnati Bearcats on Tuesday, in their second game of the season. The Bearcats took the first game 2-1 in Cincinnati, but will head to Lexington for the Wildcats to extend their current streak to 3. The weekend will be capped off with a series against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Cliff Hagan Stadium starting Friday through Sunday.