UK draws the 11 seed in the SEC tournament with the first game against 6 seeded Florida tomorrow (5/25) at 10:30 AM EST.
It seems likely that UK turns to Sean Harney to start the game, but that is a bit interesting given that he threw 24 pitches on Saturday to close out the win against Vanderbilt. That isn't so many that he couldn't start again on Tuesday, but it is still a somewhat quick turnaround.
Florida this past weekend got swept by Arkansas and they pitched all 3 of their top 3 weekend guys. So, it is a bit unclear who they might turn to 24 hours from now. Jack Leftwich has some starts for them and UK faced him 3 times a few weeks ago. He is the one who mocked the UK bench after closing out the Saturday game. So, there is bad beef there. Still, he threw 50+ on Friday and has been more of an out of the bullpen type guy lately. So, seems more likely that he'll continue that role. Instead, I believe UF will probably do more of a Johnny All Staff type of approach. They will look to preserve everyone for a longer SEC tournament run and will try to steal a win with the entire bullpen. Part of that being that they just don't have anyone who has established themselves as a fourth starter. So, they could go with any number of guys, 9 guys on their team have started at least 1 game this year, but I think the approach will be to have a short leash on anyone who gets into trouble. If I am UF and he is available, I might start with lefty Timmy Manning and see what he can do. Just a freshman and he hasn't pitched basically all month, but UK is especially poor against lefties, so I would probably try to see what I could get out of him and if he gets in trouble just be ready to go to a more established arm.
It seems likely that UK turns to Sean Harney to start the game, but that is a bit interesting given that he threw 24 pitches on Saturday to close out the win against Vanderbilt. That isn't so many that he couldn't start again on Tuesday, but it is still a somewhat quick turnaround.
Florida this past weekend got swept by Arkansas and they pitched all 3 of their top 3 weekend guys. So, it is a bit unclear who they might turn to 24 hours from now. Jack Leftwich has some starts for them and UK faced him 3 times a few weeks ago. He is the one who mocked the UK bench after closing out the Saturday game. So, there is bad beef there. Still, he threw 50+ on Friday and has been more of an out of the bullpen type guy lately. So, seems more likely that he'll continue that role. Instead, I believe UF will probably do more of a Johnny All Staff type of approach. They will look to preserve everyone for a longer SEC tournament run and will try to steal a win with the entire bullpen. Part of that being that they just don't have anyone who has established themselves as a fourth starter. So, they could go with any number of guys, 9 guys on their team have started at least 1 game this year, but I think the approach will be to have a short leash on anyone who gets into trouble. If I am UF and he is available, I might start with lefty Timmy Manning and see what he can do. Just a freshman and he hasn't pitched basically all month, but UK is especially poor against lefties, so I would probably try to see what I could get out of him and if he gets in trouble just be ready to go to a more established arm.