With the regular season in the rearview mirror, Kentucky baseball will now begin its quest back to Omaha with a stop at the Hoover Met for the SEC Tournament.
Tournament Overview
The SEC Tournament has undergone some changes for the 2025 installment. First, the conference has done away with divisions with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, which means seedings is based strictly on standings and not on division.
Furthermore, for the first time in history 16 teams will be fighting for the tournament crown instead of two teams being cut like in previous years.
Another change for the tournament moving forward is that it’s no longer a double elimination format. Instead, every single game will be an elimination game until one team is left standing.
For seedings purposes, the top four seeds still get a massive advantage — they receive double-byes and will not play their first game until Thursday or Friday.
The next advantage is four seeds as they will receive a bye and not play until day two of action, which is set for Wednesday.
The remaining eight teams, including the Wildcats, will all play on Tuesday and will need to win three games in three days before receiving a breather on Friday and then winning two more games to win the tournament.
Kentucky comes into the tournament the No. 13 overall seed and its first contest will see it face the No. 12 seed Oklahoma. The Wildcats just swept the Sooners at Kentucky Proud Park in the second to last series of the season, so these two teams are quite familiar with each other.
Whichever team advances will play the No. 5 seeded Georgia Bulldogs. The Bat Cats opened SEC play on the road in Athens where they dropped two out of three to Georgia.
If Kentucky wins that affair, then they will play No. 4 seed Vanderbilt, who it was just swept by on the road to close out the regular season.
If the Wildcats take out the Commadores, they will play the remaining team between No. 16 seeded Missouri, No. 9 seeded Alabama, No. 8 seeded Tennessee and No. 1 seeded Texas.
Kentucky has not played Missouri or Alabama this year but took two out of three on the road against Tennessee and lost two of three at home against Texas.
With a much more defined road path for Kentucky to go through, let’s dive into the guaranteed matchup against the Sooners and the pitching possibilities as strategy will be more important than ever under the new tournament format.
Kentucky Wildcats (29-23, 13-17 SEC)
While it may be unknown how the Wildcats will attack the pitching situation, it’s safe to assume that Nic McCay and Ben Cleaver will not take the mound for game one. That leaves a trio of possible arms including Scott Rouse, Nate Harris and Ethan Walker.
Rouse started the final midweek game for the Bat Cats against NKU last week and threw five shutout innings along with 70 pitches.
Rouse has assumed many different roles for Kentucky as he’s moved back-and-forth from starter to reliever.
On the season, the righty has pitched to a 5.22 ERA as he’s given up 23 earned runs in 39 2/3 innings of work. The senior has walked 13 batters and struck out 46 on the year. Opposing hitters are batting .268 off of Rouse.
Next on the list is Harris, who last pitched on Thursday in the series opener against Vanderbilt. This would be a somewhat quick turnaround for the freshman, but Harris only threw 60 pitches in his four innings of work, so it’s not completely off the table.
Harris has allowed 22 earned runs in 53 1/3 innings of work on the season, which equates to a 4.22 ERA. The right-hander has struck out 38 and walked 22 batters. Hitters are hitting .235 off of Harris.
Rounding out the game one possibility is Walker, who has shifted to more of a bullpen role as of late and last appeared in game two against Vanderbilt on Friday. The lefty threw 57 pitches in three innings of work. If Walker got the nod, it would likely be a bullpen heavy game for Kentucky as Walker has not started a game since April 29.
On the year, Walker has pitched to a 4.57 ERA as he’s given up 21 earned runs in 41 1/3 innings of work. The junior has walked 16 batters and struck out 42. Walker has allowed a .278 batting average against on the mound this season.
The last time the Wildcats and the Sooners faced off, Rouse did not pitch in the series, but Harris threw 4 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs. Walker threw the final three innings of the game two win and only surrendered one hit.
Switching gears to the plate, Kentucky’s offense is led by Cole Hage, who is first on the team in batting average and slugging percentage with marks of .322 and .596 respectively.
Tyler Bell is the next threat for the Bat Cats, and he comes into the tournament with a .311 batting average, .390 on-base percentage and a .552 slugging percentage.
James McCoy is another bat to watch as he’s been white hot over the last few series for the Wildcats and has hit to a .290 batting average, .471 on-base percentage and a .468 slugging percentage on the season.
Oklahoma Sooners (33-19, 14-16 SEC)
Like the Wildcats, it’s also unknown who Oklahoma is going to send to the mound for its first game of the SEC Tournament.
It is likely that the Sooners will go with a more bullpen lead approach against Kentucky to give their typical starters another day of rest.
If Oklahoma opts to go with a weekend starter, it will likely be Kyson Witherspoon, who is one of the best starting pitchers in the country.
However, Witherspoon threw 107 pitches on Thursday, so even if he starts, the bullpen will still be heavily relied on in the ballgame.
If Witherspoon were to start, it could be similar to how Arkansas started Hagen Smith last SEC Tournament against the Wildcats, but he was on a very short leash.
Looking at the Sooners’ offense, Easton Carmichael had a stellar series at Kentucky Proud Park and leads his team with a .321 batting average and a .593 slugging percentage. Carmichael is also getting on-base at a .389 clip.
Kyle Branch is the next name to watch for Oklahoma as he’s hit to a .304 batting average, .374 on-base percentage and a .393 slugging percentage.
Jaxon Willits rounds out the trio with some power as he has a .503 slugging percentage along with a .403 on-base percentage a .295 batting average.
After meeting three times in Lexington, it’s now time for Kentucky and Oklahoma to meet in Hoover in the postseason on day one of the SEC Tournament. First pitch of the game will be approximately 2 p.m. ET or 30 minutes after game one which is set for 9:30 a.m. ET.
