COLUMN: Surpassing Expectations, Kentucky Now Playing With House Money

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky baseball will ride a 36-17 record — its best since 2017 — into the Hoover Met Complex for the SEC Tournament next week.

The Bat Cats will first play on Tuesday, May 23, in the single elimination round of the tourney as they look to cement their spot as an NCAA Tournament Regional Host. Following a 1-2 weekend at home against No. 4 Florida, UK appears to be in a good spot to pack out Kentucky Proud Park.

Entering postseason play with a top-three RPI, the top strength of schedule in the nation and 16 wins in SEC play, the résumé — albeit an unprecedented one —is seemingly worthy of making the Cats one of the 16 hosts, perhaps even a national seed.

Head coach Nick Mingione can't see otherwise:

"I'll leave that up to them. You know, I don't know where our RPI is, but it'd hard to imagine that the metric that we use — It'd be really hard to imagine us not having a Regional," he told reporters after Kentucky's 4-2 loss to Florida on Saturday. "That's the metric that we use. You know, that should be the No. 1 thing, so I can't imagine there ever being a team with an RPI like ours not hosting. But that'll be next Sunday. Let them decide. But I think history shows that we put ourselves in a really good position."

Kentucky has sat atop or near the top of the RPI rankings all season long. Mingione made it clear before the season even began that that was the goal:

"Two of the last three years, we've been one or two wins away and quite frankly, I'm tired of that," he said at Media Day in February. "I'm ready to be in a spot to where like, let's be five or six games up like we were in 2017, and we're sitting here talking about 'alright, are we going to be a national seed? Or are we just going to be a regional seed?' That's the goal."

Goal accomplished...almost.

Entering this weekend, Field of 64 projections had Kentucky hovering around the No. 8-12 overall seed. The volatility of the projections and outcomes of other teams also fighting for those spots makes it hard to feel comfortable about anything being locked up, however.

The Cats had a chance to just about leave no doubts in their rubber match against Florida on Sunday. Deadlocked with the Gators in the seventh, an interesting pitching decision, defensive miscue and pinch-hit home run led to a four-run inning that sunk Kentucky and gave the Gators the series.

A second win over the No. 4 team in the land would've been Kentucky's 12th against top-25 RPI opponents and its 22nd against top-50 RPI. Regardless, Mingione and his team came away with positives.

The seventh-year HC flashed back to a couple of weekends ago, as his team was gearing up for a grueling nine-game stretch against two top-five teams — South Carolina and Florida — and another top-25 team in Tennessee, with that series coming on the road.

Many had predicted that stretch to be the demise of the Cats, exposing them as an SEC pretender ahead of the postseason. Instead, UK swept the Gamecocks and took one game a piece against the Vols and the Gators.

"When you start thinking about that, we had nine games. What was our record the last nine games? We went 5-4," Mingione said. "You say 'hey, man, what does that say about your team and your resume and your track record? Last three weekends, you have nine games against some of the best teams in the whole country, not just our conference, the whole country. We go 5-4 against some really good teams."

Mingione and Kentucky have exceeded expectations this season, whether they admit it or not. The Cats were picked to finish near the bottom of the SEC and weren't thought of as NCAA Tournament contenders. They now find themselves in a position to continue playing with what's essentially house money.

Pressure releases when there aren't high expectations. Everyone was ready for the levy to fully break, but it never did. UK stayed locked in the entire regular season, fought through some lows and finished with a winning record in the toughest conference in the country.

There have been multiple times this season where it's been obvious that the sheer talent that UK possesses doesn't stack up to its SEC compatriots. Florida's Wyatt Langford and Jac Caglianone reminded that point this weekend.

Yet, here the Cats are, being mentioned as a potential Super Regional host, if they could make it that far. First, they're headed to Hoover, a place that they excelled in one year ago, thanks to a surprise deep run.

Winning a game or two this season would improve hosting chances tremendously, but it won't be the end-all be-all — a true sign of the progress that's been made in Lexington this season.

How a scrimmage helped Kentucky renew its identity

How UK needs to finish to make the NCAA Tournament

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Hunter Gilliam: From Longwood Walk-On to Kentucky's Captain

Shortstop Grant Smith named to Brooks Wallace Award Watch List

Want the latest on national football and basketball recruiting, including Cats targets? Head over to SI All-American for the latest news, blogs, and updates about the nation's best prospects.

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