Pregame Report: Starters, Pitching Situations for Kentucky, Indiana in Lexington Regional

LEXINGTON, Ky. — First pitch between No. 1 Kentucky (No. 12 overall seed) and No. 3 Indiana is less than two hours away, as the Wildcats and Hoosiers will compete for a spot in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament Lexington Regional.

The Saturday-night showdown is a rematch from earlier in the regular season, when UK run-ruled IU 12-2 on Tuesday, March 14 at Kentucky Proud Park. Both teams won their tourney openers on Friday, as the Cats blanked Ball State 4-0, while the Hoosiers pulled away late from West Virginia in a 12-6 win.

With pitching at the forefront of the postseason conversation, Kentucky's situation seems to be much more favorable than its opponent from just across the state border.

After receiving 4.0 innings from Travis Smith, UK head coach Nick Mingione turned to reliever Mason Moore, who turned in the best start of his Wildcat career, pitching 5.0 flawless innings, recording 15 outs against the 14 batters he faced.

With neither available to face IU, that leaves 12 arms at the disposal of Mingione and pitching coach Dan Roszel, including Saturday's starter Zack Lee (5-2, 3.58) and the in-expendable right-hander Darren Williams (4-2, 4.08).

Four left-handers are available, including Tyler Bosma (4-4, 5.61), who made 13 starts in the regular season. Kentucky may also turn to Austin Strickland (3-1, 5.01), the long-relief righty who made his first start during the final series of the regular season.

In short, there are plenty of viable options for UK. That may not be the case for Indiana.

Head coach Jeff Mercer had to make a sudden switch in the third inning vs. WVU on Friday, as ace righty Luke Sinnard left due to what appeared to be an arm injury. Luckily, the Hoosier bullpen delivered, as Brayden Risedorph and Ty Bothwell pushed IU across the finish line.

It'll be left-hander Ryan Kraft (6-1, 2.51) taking the ball for Indiana, making his return after missing the Big Ten Tournament due to what Mercer described as forearm tightness. Handling lefties has been an issue for UK all season, a theme it must put an end to if it wants to avoid playing in an elimination game on Sunday.

In general, Indiana's bullpen is much more thin, given the trio of Sinnard, Risedorph and Bothwell account for over 163 innings — 18 games worth — from the staff this season. Mercer had this to say following the win over WVU about the staff moving forward:

"We've got enough guys to go and do it. It's just going to be young, and we're going to have to fight it out and we're going to have to chop it up."

A game recap of Kentucky's 4-0 win over Ball State can be found HERE, while more on reliever Mason Moore can be found HERE.

For a complete preview of the action this weekend in Lexington, click HERE.
For some UK baseball postseason lore, click HERE.
Everything Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said about the draw HERE.
More on Mingione HERE.
More on Kentucky's pitching staff heading into the postseason HERE.
Find out which Kentuckians are returning to their home state to play HERE.

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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