Kentucky baseball falls to No. 12 in D1Baseball Week Eight Top 25 after Georgia loss

Kentucky+Wildcats+head+coach+Nick+Mingione+talks+to+reporters+after+the+No.+18+Kentucky+vs.+Western+Kentucky+baseball+game+on+Tuesday%2C+March+28%2C+2023%2C+at+Nick+Denes+Field+in+Bowling+Green%2C+Kentucky.+Kentucky+won+10-8.+Photo+by+Jack+Weaver+%7C+Staff

Jack Weaver

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Nick Mingione talks to reporters after the No. 18 Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky baseball game on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at Nick Denes Field in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Kentucky won 10-8. Photo by Jack Weaver | Staff

Jonathon Bruner, Reporter

No. 12 Kentucky Baseball (27-5) dropped two spots from No. 10 in the week eight D1Baseball Top 25 rankings.

The Wildcats began the week on Tuesday with a win over Dayton at Kentucky Proud Park by a score of 13-6 before heading to Athens, Georgia, for a weekend series versus the Bulldogs. 

In game one of the series, the Wildcats overcame a four-run deficit to win by a score of 7-4 but, after a rainout on Saturday, the Wildcats were swept in the Sunday doubleheader by scores of 3-0 and 6-2 for their first series loss of the year.

The SEC continued to be prominent in the top 25 with seven teams in the SEC making the rankings. 

The LSU Tigers held the top spot at No. 1 in the country as they went 2-1 on the week with a win over Nicholls State before splitting two games with South Carolina.

The Florida Gators remained at No. 3 in the week eight rankings after they won a Tuesday game against Bethune-Cookman before taking two out of three games in a series against the Tennessee Volunteers over the weekend. 

The Vanderbilt Commodores kept their No. 4 ranking after a Tuesday win over Western Kentucky and a weekend series win over the Missouri Tigers.

Arkansas remained at number five after it took two out of three games against the Ole Miss Rebels as it split a double header before winning the Sunday finale.

South Carolina was next up as it held strong at No. 6 by taking down the North Carolina Tar Heels on Tuesday before splitting the series with LSU. The Gamecock offense shined in its lone victory of the series as it took down the Tigers by a score of 13-5. 

Following the No. 12 Wildcats, the Tennessee Volunteers were the next and final SEC team in the rankings, standing at No.16. 

The Volunteers dropped five spots from No. 11 after suffering the series loss against Florida.

The Louisville Cardinals had the biggest jump of the week as they jumped eight spots from No. 18 to No. 10. 

No. 23 USC, No. 24 Arizona State and No. 25 TCU were all newcomers to the rankings after being unranked in the week seven rankings. 

Miami, who was previously ranked at No. 20, saw the biggest loss in the rankings as it is now unranked entirely. Both West Virginia, which was previously ranked at No. 24, and Oregon, which was ranked at No. 25, dropped out of the top 25 as well. 

A full list of the rankings can be seen below: 

  1. LSU Tigers (26-5) 
  2. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (28-4)
  3. Florida Gators (27-6) 
  4. Vanderbilt Commodores (26-6)
  5. Arkansas Razorbacks (25-6)
  6. South Carolina Razorbacks (28-4) 
  7. Virginia Cavaliers (28-4) 
  8. Stanford Cardinal (21-7
  9. East Carolina Pirates (24-8) 
  10. Louisville Cardinals (24-7) 
  11. Boston College Eagles (21-9) 
  12. Kentucky Wildcats (27-5) 
  13. North Carolina Tarheels (23-10) 
  14. Campbell Fighting Camels (24-6) 
  15. Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (26-6) 
  16. Tennessee Volunteers (22-10)
  17. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (20-9) 
  18. Oklahoma State Cowboys (23-10)
  19. Texas Longhorns (23-10) 
  20. Connecticut Huskies (22-8) 
  21. Texas Tech Red Raiders (22-10)
  22. UCLA Bruins (19-8-1)
  23. USC Trojans (20-10-1)
  24. Arizona State Sun Devils (23-9)
  25. TCU Horned Frogs (20-12)