Kentucky baseball remains unranked in D1 Baseball week one top 25

Kentucky Wildcat Zack Lee (48) pitches during the University of Kentucky vs. Georgia State game on Sunday, March 14, 2021, at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky. UK won 4-2. Photo by Jack Weaver | Staff

Cole Parke, Sports Editor
February 21, 2023

Kentucky baseball (2-1) remained unranked in the week one D1 Baseball top 25 after winning its opening series against Elon.

Being unranked in the preseason poll, Kentucky’s season got off to a less than stellar start, being bested 2-0 by an Elon Phoenix team that finished the 2022 season 27-28.

While the Cats may not have broken into the rankings, the SEC continued to dominate the top 25, with nine out of 14 teams featuring in the week one poll.

LSU remained No. 1 in the country after sweeping Western Michigan by a combined score of 24-5, including a 10-0 sweep on opening day.

Tennessee, who started the season No. 2, dropped down to No. 3 after suffering surprise losses to both Arizona and Grand Canyon, finishing the first weekend 1-2.

No. 4 and No. 5 remained the same though, with the fourth ranked Ole Miss Rebels, fresh off a national championship, sweeping Delaware by a combined 35-6, while the fifth ranked Texas A&M Aggies swept Seattle University.

No. 7 Florida also stayed put, sweeping Charleston Southern by a combined 37-5, while the now No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks dropped one spot after suffering an 18-6 loss to new No. 8 TCU.

While the lopsided loss may have typically led to a larger drop, the Razorbacks followed up the loss with an 18-1 win over former No. 9 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys dropped down to No. 15.

No. 10 Vanderbilt also remained unchanged after the first weekend, also losing to TCU on opening day before beating Oklahoma State and Texas.

There was a steep drop-off before the next ranked SEC team, with Alabama coming in at No. 20 after sweeping Richmond by a combined 39-5.

Just a few spots lower, South Carolina remained in place at No. 23 after sweeping UMass Lowell by a combined 49-5, winning game one 20-3.

In fact, despite a few teams moving around in the rankings, the week one poll featured all of the same teams as the preseason poll, with rankings 16-25 remaining entirely unchanged.

TCU saw the largest jump, going from No. 15 up to No. 8 while the Cowboys of Oklahoma State saw the largest drop.

Looking at Kentucky’s schedule, the Wildcats are not slated to play a current top 25 team until their series against Alabama from March 24-26.

In the meantime, Kentucky is set to host its home opener against Evansville on Tuesday, Feb. 21, before hosting its first home series of the new season from Feb. 24-26.

The Wildcats’ matchup against the Purple Aces is expected to begin at 4 p.m. EST, with Evansville looking for revenge after the Cats narrowly won 5-4 last season.

A full list of the rankings can be seen below: