Kentucky Moves Five Spots to No. 18 in Latest D1Baseball Poll; Bat Cats Now No. 1 in RPI

Kentucky baseball has taken another jump after a 3-1 week. The Bat Cats are now the No. 18 team in the nation, per D1Baseball's new poll. Head coach Nick Mingione's squad moved up five spots from No. 23.

UK finally saw its miraculous winning streak end at 17 games, but it still took two out of three games against a formerly ranked Alabama team on the road in Tuscaloosa. The Wildcats are now 21-3 and 5-1 in SEC play. They are one of seven teams from the Southeastern Conference ranked, heading into the final few days of March:

1. LSU
3. Florida
4. Vanderbilt
6. Arkansas
9. South Carolina
10. Tennessee
18. Kentucky

Three teams dropped out of the rankings, one of whom will be Kentucky's opponent this weekend:

Ole Miss
Texas A&M
Missouri

The Missouri Tigers will head to Kentucky Proud Park for a three-game series beginning on Friday, March 31. Head coach Steve Bieser has Mizzou exceeding early expectations with a 17-6 (3-3 SEC) record. It was the only team picked to finish worse than Kentucky in the Preseason SEC Coaches Poll.

Mizzou opened conference play with a bang, sweeping then-No. 2 Tennessee at home in emphatic fashion, winning the opener 9-1 and the closer 7-1. It was then brought back down to earth, as South Carolina swept a three-game set over the weekend, winning the finale 5-4 in 12 innings.

Before returning home to face the Tigers, Kentucky will stay on the road for its midweek matchup, heading to Bowling Green, Ky. to take on Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers — former home of current UK center fielder Jackson Gray — are 16-9 on the season.

Kentucky No. 1 in Updated RPI

When Mingione spoke to reporters on Media Day before the beginning of the season, he talked about Kentucky's scheduling and what it needed to look like so it wouldn't be an issue for seeding purposes or even getting into the NCAA Tournament.

"We addressed our schedule. I went and met with some of the people out there that were gurus of RPI and just trying to figure that out. Every year there's a committee, and what they deem important sometimes can vary a little bit, but we want to get to a spot where there's nothing that we're even sitting here trying to worry about in the last week," he said.

"Obviously you're going to have to go out and win, we put a schedule together that we believe is going to help us from that standpoint, so we're not sitting here talking about two or three RPI points. If we do what we're supposed to, then obviously all those goals and dreams will be right there in front of us."

It's worked like a charm thus far, as the Cats are now No. 1 in RPI entering March 27. Of Kentucky's opponents this season, Indiana State has the highest RPI at 27. Kentucky swept the Sycamores at home. Next is Elon at 29, which UK took two of three from on the road to open the season. A midweek win over Evansville (37) continues to look good, as does two of three from Alabama (42) in Tuscaloosa.

Mizzou (22) will provide another high-RPI series this weekend in Lexington. Kentucky has plenty of work to do, but its currently sitting in a good position to reach its first NCAA Tournament since 2017.

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