Kentucky baseball (29-24, 13-18 SEC) fell to Oklahoma (34-19, 15-16 SEC) by a score of 5-1 to end its 2025 SEC Tournament appearance.
With the new format in the SEC Tournament, every game is an elimination game, so the Wildcats are a one-and-done in this installment of the event.
The last time these two teams met, Kentucky swept Oklahoma at Kentucky Proud Park in the three-game set.
This time the two programs met with Oklahoma the No. 12 seed and the Wildcats the No. 13 seed.
Due to being the higher seed, the Bat Cats were the away team and looked like they were going to reach the scoreboard early as Luke Lawrence singled, Cole Hage walked and James McCoy singled to load the bases.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Patrick Herrea hit into an inning-ending double play to nullify the threat.
The offense was kept off the board in the second before Lawrence hit a one-out double in the third and moved to third on a balk.
McCoy gave Kentucky a 1-0 lead in the game after he reached on a groundball that went under the legs of Oklahoma third baseman Dawson Willis.
The 1-0 lead marked 28/31 SEC games where Kentucky had a lead, however only 13 of those games resulted in wins.
The lead was quickly flipped as Scott Rouse gave up a single to Dasan Harris and he came around to score on a two-run home run by Jason Walk that gave the Sooners a 2-1 lead.
After a walk and stolen base, Easton Carmichael singled to extend the Oklahoma lead to 3-1 and ended Rouse’s afternoon. Evan Byers came on and got two outs to keep the score where it stood.
Jackson Nove relieved Byers and tossed two scoreless frames before finding himself in trouble in the sixth.
After a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position with one out, a groundout added another run to the Sooners total.
After the RBI-groundout, Hayden Smith took over for Nove and pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings before giving up a triple to Carmichael in the eighth. Carmichael scored on a sacrifice fly that resulted in the 5-1 final score.
The Wildcats struggled mightily to string any hits together and did not have a runner reach second base after the Lawrence double in the third.
Kentucky hit into three double plays in the ballgame which made it very hard to get any momentum going. Furthermore, Oklahoma only allowed one three walks in the game.
The Bat Cats finished the regular season and SEC Tournament on a four-game losing streak.
One more win out the last four would have made Kentucky a guarantee for the NCAA Tournament, but that did not happen, so they sit firmly on the bubble.
Coming into conference tournament week, Kentucky was a consensus No. 3 seed in various regionals depending on the publication, but it’s a complete toss-up as to what the committee will do.
It will be a long and anxious six days for the program as its fate will be decided in the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Monday, May 26, at noon ET.
