Kentucky Baseball Hosting NCAA Tournament Regional for Third Time in Program History
LEXINGTON, Ky. — For only the third time in program history, Kentucky will play postseason baseball in Lexington.
On Sunday night, the NCAA announced the Wildcats as one of the 16 Regional hosts for the upcoming 2023 NCAA Tournament, meaning Kentucky Proud Park will be the site for UK's 10th ever tournament appearance and its first since 2017.
It's the second postseason appearance for Nick Mingione as head coach of the Wildcats, who own a 36-18 (16-14 SEC) record, the team's best since that 2017 season, which also led to a Regional being held in Lexington at Cliff Hagan Stadium, UK's former home ballpark that witnessed its only two times hosting, with the first coming back in 2006.
The Cats are 18-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and made their only Super Regional appearance in 2017, when it faced Louisville and lost two games to the Cardinals at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Kentucky, which has been in the Top 25 for much of the latter portion of the season and reached as high as No. 10 in the D1Baseball Poll, won 27 of its first 30 games to begin the year, including a 17-game winning streak that bled into the start of SEC play.
The 25th-ranked Cats then lost six of their last seven SEC series to round out the regular season, then fell to Alabama in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Tuesday. They've been excellent at home this season, owning a 25-6 (11-4 SEC) record at KPP.
UK bolstered its hosting résumé by owning the No. 2 RPI in the nation and the No. 1 strength of schedule. It also had the No. 9 non-conference SOS and compiled 18 wins against teams in the RPI top 50, 11 of which came against teams in the RPI top 25.
A record eight different SEC teams were announced as hosts. Kentucky has a 10-9 record against other teams hosting.
- Auburn
- LSU
- South Carolina
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Kentucky
- Alabama
- Vanderbilt
Other hosts:
- Virginia
- Clemson
- Coastal Carolina
- Miami
- Indiana State
- Wake Forest
- Oklahoma State
- Stanford
Kentucky will find out on Monday the three teams that will head to Lexington for the Regional, when the entire field of 64 is released at noon EST on ESPN2. Ticket information, game times and more will be unveiled afterward. Games will open at KPP on Friday, June 2.
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