NCAA Tournament Resume Rundown: Kentucky is above the cut line

The college baseball postseason has arrived. Teams have one final chance to add to their resume this week during conference tournaments before the committee finalizes the field on Memorial Day. The Bat Cats are in the tournament but they are very close to the cut line.

One win in Hoover secures a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid for the Kentucky baseball program. A loss puts them in dangerous territory on Selection Monday. UK is in a very unique spot leaving the regular season.

This is where the latest bracket projections have the Wildcats before Tuesday’s tilt with Vanderbilt.

Bases Loaded: Welcome to the SEC Tournament

Baseball America published their latest bracket projection on Monday. Kentucky was a No. 3 seed in Los Angeles. The Wildcats were the No. 3 seed in UCLA’s pod along with No. 3 seed Oklahoma State and No. 4 seed Oral Roberts. The Bruins are the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament but the Cowboys were the last No. 2 seed. That seems to indicate that UK is one of the higher No. 3 seeds and not really close to the bubble. Troy, NC State, Louisiana, and UTSA were the last four teams in. Michigan, Texas State, Purdue, and Kent State were the first four teams out. UK is at least six RPI spots ahead of all those teams.

D1 Baseball also went live with their latest bracket projection on Monday. Kentucky is one of the last four teams in along with NC State, East Carolina, and Michigan. Troy, Texas State, Kent State, and South Alabama are the first four teams out. The Bat Cats are very much on the bubble here but are above all of these teams in RPI. UK is in the Tallahassee regional with No. 11 overall seed Florida State. The Cats would draw No. 2 seed Oklahoma State in the opener.

Kentucky’s Team Sheet

Kentucky (31-20, 12-17) sits at No. 34 in RPI. That’s one below this time last week.

The eight total losses in Quads 3 and 4 are not the best look but this resume is buoyed by some other big marks. Kentucky’s has a top-15 non-conference RPI with seven Quad 1 victories and a 11-12 overall mark in the first two quadrants. UK has six wins against top-15 competition with three of those occurring on the road. The Bat Cats reached the key SEC wins mark and own a fairly clean resume.

That has them in the tournament. A Quad 2 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday would certainly guarantee an at-large bid for Kentucky baseball.