FB Recruiting Much at stake for Cats, Vols this weekend

[Jeff Drummond]

Much at stake as Cats enter final three weeks of regular season

Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione and senior second baseman Luke Becker.
Jeff Drummond/Cats Illustrated

Jeff Drummond • CatsIllustrated.com
@JDrumUK

Neither Kentucky nor Tennessee are in contention for the SEC's regular-season championship, but there is still much at stake for both clubs as they meet this weekend for a three-game series in Knoxville.

Although the No. 11 Wildcats (29-15, 10-11 SEC) have not challenged for the the league title as some had expected them to do entering the season, they are still among the nation's top teams in the national rankings and RPI.

Entering this week, UK is projected by many outlets as an NCAA regional host despite the fact that they must continue to fight for a bid in the upcoming SEC Tournament.

The league's top 12 teams advance to Hoover, Ala. Currently, there are nine teams sitting within three games of each other in the standings, including both the Wildcats and Volunteers.

Tennessee (25-22, 8-13 SEC) likely views UK as a good opportunity to improve its position. Entering the weekend, UT and Alabama would be the odd teams out with nine league games remaining.

Nick Mingione's squad enters the weekend with some momentum. The Cats have won three of their last four SEC series after a slow start out of the gates.

Junior catcher/first baseman Kole Cottam is the reigning SEC Player of the Week after hitting .571 with a game-winning grand slam on Sunday to give UK a series win over Missouri. He and senior outfielder Luke Heyer are the only teammates in Division I with 15 or more home runs this season. Heyer leads the SEC with 16 home runs and 49 RBI to go along with a .335 batting average.

The much-improved Vols will contend with UK's formidable weekend rotation of Sean Hjelle, Zack Thompson and Justin Lewis.

A junior right-hander, Hjelle (6-3, 2.95 ERA) has followed his SEC Pitcher of the Year in 2017 with another strong campaign. He's coming off a dominant start against Mizzou in a 2-1 win by the Cats.

Thompson (2-0, 5.79 ERA), a sophomore left-hander and one of the nation's top prospects for the 2019 MLB Draft, returned from a long injury layoff to pitch in relief last weekend. That could be key as the Cats are seeking their first win of the season in the middle game of an SEC series.

Lewis (7-2, 4.39 ERA), a junior right-hander, is coming off a 10-strikeout effort against Mizzou.

Tennessee enters the matchup 12th in the league in runs scored (71 fewer than UK) and 13th in team ERA at 4.63. Due in large part to bullpen issues, the Cats are last in team ERA (5.27) in the SEC.

*****

#11 KENTUCKY at TENNESSEE

Friday at Tennessee

6:30 p.m. ET; Lindsey Nelson Stadium; Knoxville, Tenn.

TV/Online: SEC Network+

Radio: 630 AM WLAP Lexington; ukathletics.com

Probables: UK – RHP Sean Hjelle (6-3, 2.95) at UT – TBD


Saturday at Tennessee

6 p.m. ET; Lindsey Nelson Stadium; Knoxville, Tenn.

TV/Online: SEC Network+

Radio: 630 AM WLAP; ukathletics.com

Probables: UK – LHP Zack Thompson (2-0, 5.79) at UT - TBD


Sunday at Tennessee

1 p.m. ET; Lindsey Nelson Stadium; Knoxville, Tenn.

TV/Online: SEC Network+

Radio: 630 AM WLAP; ukathletics.com

Probables: UK – RHP Justin Lewis (7-2, 4.39) at UT – Will Neely (4-1, 3.69)

 

[Old_Red]

You would think that this series sets up well for Kentucky. Tennessee pitchers have the worstest WHIP number in the SEC. They also have the lowest number of strikeouts per nine innings. Consequently, they have the lowest strikeout to walks ratio. They have the highest hits allowed per innings in the SEC. They also are 2nd in hit batters. All of this should let us be in a position to hit better and score a lot of runs. We do hit better when we get a lot of walks and hit batters. We should be able to put a lot of pressure on their pitching.

They have the 2nd lowest slugging percentage (then again, Missouri has the lowest even after pounding our pitching). They also have the second lowest BA.

Their fielding is 2nd lowest in the SEC although they are #1 in double plays. We are pretty darn good at hitting into double plays.

Tennessee is 4-8 in their last 12 games.

Still, we've been hitting worse as the SEC season rolls on and have been averaging 5.3 walks per game over the last 10 games. I hope we get going early on offense and Hjelle is on early.

 

[RogerIndy]

It's always good to beat the Vols in any sport, but if we could get a sweep, that would be so awesome. I can't imagine that Thompson is going to go very many innings on Saturday, so hopefully we can put together a Saturday win for a change. The Vols have been swept by SC & LSU but both of those were on the road. They even managed to take a game from Florida. (sound familiar?) Go Big Blue!

 

[ulismyman]

This team does nothing easily but i would love a 3 game sweep scoring 10 runs plus each game

 

[Comebakatz3]

It's always good to beat the Vols in any sport, but if we could get a sweep, that would be so awesome. I can't imagine that Thompson is going to go very many innings on Saturday, so hopefully we can put together a Saturday win for a change. The Vols have been swept by SC & LSU but both of those were on the road. They even managed to take a game from Florida. (sound familiar?) Go Big Blue!

Tennessee is pretty decent at home, but they have struggled this year. UK has to do everything possible to keep starters in as long as we can and avoid getting to or using the bullpen. Saturday, I have to imagine that Thompson will be on a pitch count and they will use him sparingly and then will likely turn to Haake. I am hoping that coming out of the pen will be a better mindset for Haake and he will have a bit more success than he's had in most of his outings.

 

[Old_Red]

Looking at Warren Nolan, UK is 16-4 against teams with an rpi above 50, 9-1 against teams with an rpi above 150. Tennessee is 20-11 against rpi's above 50 and 9-1 against rpi's above 150. That makes them 11-10 against the teams with rpi's between 51 and 150 (7 of those losses came at home as did 7 of the wins). They are only 3-4 at home against the top 50 rpi teams (2-7 on the road).

We're only 8-7 on the road including wins at Western Carolina, South Carolina Upstate(2), and Xavier. our big road wins are Georgia(2), Houston, and Alabama (after dropping the first two). Basically, it looks like we are going to have to do something out of character for this season to win on the road, like we did at Georgia. Tennessee has played Florida and Texas A&M at home in the SEC. Clearly, Florida is a step above the rest of the SEC so Texas A&M is more of the yardstick. Texas A&M has won only one series on the road at Mississippi State, losing to Tennessee, Georgia, and Auburn on the road.

I think it will be an interesting series and will let us know if we are doing anything in the postseason.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Tennessee is pretty decent at home, but they have struggled this year. UK has to do everything possible to keep starters in as long as we can and avoid getting to or using the bullpen. Saturday, I have to imagine that Thompson will be on a pitch count and they will use him sparingly and then will likely turn to Haake. I am hoping that coming out of the pen will be a better mindset for Haake and he will have a bit more success than he's had in most of his outings.

CB3...I thought we already had it laid out for the staff for Sat