Kentucky Baseball's 2023 Schedule Projected as One of the Toughest in the SEC Based off 2022 Results
If you're at least vaguely familiar with the landscape of college baseball, you'll know about the dominance of the Southeastern Conference.
SEC teams have claimed eight of the past 13 College World Series Championships, including four of the last five:
- 2009 - LSU
- 2010 - South Carolina
- 2011 - South Carolina
- 2014 - Vanderbilt
- 2017 - Florida
- 2019 - Vanderbilt
- 2021 - Mississippi State
- 2022 - Ole Miss
It's unlike football, where Georgia and Alabama consistently sit atop and await occasional challengers attempt to dethrone them. The conference runs deep, as depicted by D1Baseball's new Preseason Top 25 for the 2023 season, which features a whopping nine SEC programs in the mix:
- 1. LSU
- 2. Tennessee
- 4. Ole Miss
- 5. Texas A&M
- 7. Florida
- 8. Arkansas
- 10. Vanderbilt
- 20. Alabama
- 23. South Carolina
You'll notice that the Kentucky Wildcats are nowhere to be found. This has become a consistent theme in Lexington, as coach Nick Mingione's teams have failed to reach the NCAA Tournament since 2017, his first season at the helm. Since that year, UK has also failed to put together a winning record in SEC play.
With series on the road against LSU, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, as well as home tilts against Texas A&M, Florida and South Carolina on the docket, snapping those five-year skids will be tough sledding.
Per D1Baseball, Kentucky's SEC opponent RPI of 38 (based off of last season) will be just the eighth-hardest conference slate amongst its SEC compatriots. Sounds somewhat favorable, sure, but that's not including non-conference action.
UK will play eight non-conference games away from Kentucky Proud Park this season, the most of any SEC team. The season will open with a three-game set in Elon, N.C. from Feb. 17-19 against the Elon Phoenix. After a 10-game home-stand, the Wildcats will hit the road for another interesting trip, this time to Carbondale, Ill. to take on Southern Illinois. Mingione's group will also play one game at rival Louisville while also taking on Western Kentucky in Bowling Green, Ky. in the middle of the year.
While that's strenuous enough, Kentucky's bulk of non-conference games won't feature gimmes against basement-dwelling programs, either. Its opposing RPI in the 24 non-SEC games this season is 112, statistically the toughest of the 14 teams in the conference.
Two games against Louisville (18) headline the slate. Xavier (62) and Evansville (81) will pose tough challenges for a day inside KPP, while the aforementioned series at Southern Illinois (67) won't be particularly easy, either.
Kentucky failed to crack the top-50 in RPI last season itself, finishing at No. 52. Finishing with a 12-18 record in SEC didn't help, but neither did dropping one-off games against WKU, Ohio and EKU. The Cats will have an opportunity to avenge all three of those defeats in 2023.
Overall, Kentucky's schedule ranks as the second hardest in the SEC in RPI at 72, just barely behind the Georgia Bulldogs (69). 2023 season projections are slowly filing in and will perhaps tell a different story before opening day in less than a month, but all signs are pointing towards another grueling year of baseball in the Bluegrass.
You can find Kentucky's entire 2023 schedule here.
Learn about some of Kentucky's new transfer portal acquisitions on the diamond here.
Wildcats Today will have coverage of Kentucky baseball during the 2023 campaign.
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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