I don't know about you, but I sure felt a surge of energy when I first woke up this morning. League play is on deck.... And so much will be sorted out over the next ten weeks, for the SEC in 2016 and for our program specifically. We can talk about how we owe something to Georgia Southern, or how successful of a career has been had by Kevin Hill at South Alabama. We can talk about Wright State can really swing the bats or how Lipscomb looks like a solid team on paper. And all those things were true. Still, it just "feels" different with an SEC team coming in here this weekend. I told Miss RedRain last weekend that "you're about to start seeing some logos you recognize."
Although Kentucky's record is pretty good (12-4) it's probably safe to say that they've been a bit disappointed with things to date... They opened the season with a loss to the Terriers from Wofford in a tournament in Spartanburg SC. Kentucky rebounded with wins over Dayton and George Mason to close out the weekend. UK then went west to play in the Tony Gwynn Tourney in San Diego. The trip didn't go well for Big Blue as they were beaten soundly by UC Santa Barbara on Friday night before beating San Diego State on Saturday. Sunday afternoon, Kentucky fell to Bryant University behind a poor pitching effort. Kentucky rebounded by rolling off 9 in a row, beating Austin Peay in a midweek game before sweeping Buffalo in UK's first home weekend. After beating our friends from Cincinnati in exciting midweek action, Kentucky swept USC Upstate. They come to Athens having dropped a midweek game to our friends from Western Kentucky in a game that lasted 3:36 and featured 17 walks. Maybe that's just how games with Western Kentucky go....
I remember when we played Kentucky in 2012 and 2013, we saw three lefties in their rotation. Now it's three righties. Friday night, we'll see Zach Brown. The stout junior from Seymour Indiana was UK's Friday night guy last season. Good fastball, in the low 90s, good slider, and a pretty good change. He pitched into the 7th last year and allowed 9 hits, but only 2 earned runs with 1 walk and 6 K's. I thought that we had a pretty good approach against him last year, but just couldn't get the big hit when we needed it. It's been a mixed bag on the year for Brown. He's 1-2 in 4 appearances, all starts, and sports a 4.95 ERA. He's thrown 20 innings and posted a 16/11 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .275 against him. He's a thrown 5 wild pitches and hit a batter also. Of the 22 hits he's allowed, 7 have gone for extra base hits (that divides nice and cleanly). Not great, but we know from last year that this guy has some ability.
Saturday, we'll see Dustin Beggs. The senior from Roswell returns to his home state. He's built similarly to Brown. We hit Beggs hard last year. It was apparent early on that he didn't have much working for him. He lasted 5 innings and allowed 11 hits and 9 runs (6 earned) with 2 walks and 1 K. Skyler Weber doubled twice off of him and Stephen Wrenn homered. Beggs doesn't have an overpowering fastball, but he locates it well. As I recall, his curveball was not effective at all when we played, but it's typically good pitch for him. His numbers are much better this year. He's 4-0 in 4 appearances, all starts, and sports an outstanding 0.94 ERA. His 28 2/3 innings lead their squad and he's posted an impressive 30/4 K/BB. The opposition is only hitting .144 against him.
Sunday afternoon, we'll face off with Kyle Cody. Cody is the 2nd straight giant Sunday starter that we'll see, standing at 6'8 and weighing 245 pounds. He comes from Chippewa Falls Wisconsin. Cody was drafted in the 2nd round, 72nd overall last season, but opted (surprisingly) to return to Lexington. Cody is once again their top pro prospect. To say he was really good against us last year would be an understatement. His league numbers were poor coming into his start in the rubber game against us, but he looked every bit like an elite guy that afternoon. He threw 8 shutout innings against us, allowing 6 hits and striking out 5. I remember being a bit surprised when he took the hill to start the 9th. I don't know what his pitch count was, but I remember thinking that they'd gotten a great day already from a guy who'd really struggled to that point. Jared Walsh lead off with a solo HR to tie the game, and I tell ya, the mood in that stadium did a 180 in about 5 seconds. More on that in a minute. Cody did not pitch well in San Diego and apparently disappointed a number of the scouts who were there to see him (per the article I read in either Baseball America or D1Baseball). All in all, he's 2-1 in 4 starts and has a 5.40 ERA. He's thrown 18 1/3 innings and struck out 20 while walking 8. Opponents are hitting .247 against him. We know that this guy can pitch, though, regardless of what he's done to this point. He can hit 98 with his fastball, but we should see it more in the mid 90s, similar to Robert Tyler. He also has a very good curveball.
Offensively, I noticed that Javon Shelby did not play for the Wildcats last weekend, but returned on Tuesday afternoon. I think he's their returning hitter from last year. We'll see him at 3rd base and hitting 3rd this weekend. Shelby comes in at a robust .349/.508/.767 and has hit 4 HRs. The junior from Lexington is a right handed hitter, as I remember.
Storm Wilson is another guy to watch. We should see him in CF and hitting leadoff. He's hitting .300/.444/.500. and has also stolen 4 bases. Wilson is a 4th year junior from Science Hill Kentucky. I can't remember which way he hits, but I want to say he's a southpaw.
Evan White should hit 2nd and play 1st base. White is off to a terrific start hitting .388/.442/.522 with 1 HR and is a perfect 6/6 in stolen bases. White is a sophomore from Gahannah Ohio.
Kentucky has struck out 103 times in their 16 games played, nearly 6 1/2 per. That may bode well for our pitching staff this weekend. They have been fairly aggressive and very efficient on the bases, converting 22 of 27 stolen bases.
Kentucky was in a great shape to make a regional last season. They'd already won series in Baton Rouge and Gainesville. They were 3 outs away from winning a series against us, at home, in May. Then Jared Walsh hit the HR and sent the thing to extras. Kentucky retired our first hitters in the 10th. Then Stephen Wrenn beat out an IF hit. Then Keegan McGovern singled him around to 3rd. Then we drew a walk. Then Daniel Nichols got a 2 RBI base hit. By the time the smoke cleared, we put up a 5 spot and went on to win 6-1. It all started with 2 outs and the bases empty (kinda like that Saturday at South Carolina in 2011). I don't know that one game really ever costs a team a regional or puts a team into one. You play 56 overall and 30 in the conference. Some are more valuable than others, obviously, but I don't know that any one, single game is ever the difference. But you can bet your last dollar that Kentucky will view that Sunday game against us as the difference. I would if I were in their shoes. It's such a long season and who knows the extent to which anyone really "circles" a series, but I bet they'll come down here with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. I think we would if the roles were reversed.
Beyond all that, the reality is that neither us nor Kentucky were picked to do very much in the SEC this season. Both schools know full well what lies ahead in the 9 weeks after this series and both know that it's critically important to start off on the right foot this weekend. Sure, that's always important, but it seems more so for this weekend. I'm expecting a very intense series in Athens this weekend.
Although Kentucky's record is pretty good (12-4) it's probably safe to say that they've been a bit disappointed with things to date... They opened the season with a loss to the Terriers from Wofford in a tournament in Spartanburg SC. Kentucky rebounded with wins over Dayton and George Mason to close out the weekend. UK then went west to play in the Tony Gwynn Tourney in San Diego. The trip didn't go well for Big Blue as they were beaten soundly by UC Santa Barbara on Friday night before beating San Diego State on Saturday. Sunday afternoon, Kentucky fell to Bryant University behind a poor pitching effort. Kentucky rebounded by rolling off 9 in a row, beating Austin Peay in a midweek game before sweeping Buffalo in UK's first home weekend. After beating our friends from Cincinnati in exciting midweek action, Kentucky swept USC Upstate. They come to Athens having dropped a midweek game to our friends from Western Kentucky in a game that lasted 3:36 and featured 17 walks. Maybe that's just how games with Western Kentucky go....
I remember when we played Kentucky in 2012 and 2013, we saw three lefties in their rotation. Now it's three righties. Friday night, we'll see Zach Brown. The stout junior from Seymour Indiana was UK's Friday night guy last season. Good fastball, in the low 90s, good slider, and a pretty good change. He pitched into the 7th last year and allowed 9 hits, but only 2 earned runs with 1 walk and 6 K's. I thought that we had a pretty good approach against him last year, but just couldn't get the big hit when we needed it. It's been a mixed bag on the year for Brown. He's 1-2 in 4 appearances, all starts, and sports a 4.95 ERA. He's thrown 20 innings and posted a 16/11 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .275 against him. He's a thrown 5 wild pitches and hit a batter also. Of the 22 hits he's allowed, 7 have gone for extra base hits (that divides nice and cleanly). Not great, but we know from last year that this guy has some ability.
Saturday, we'll see Dustin Beggs. The senior from Roswell returns to his home state. He's built similarly to Brown. We hit Beggs hard last year. It was apparent early on that he didn't have much working for him. He lasted 5 innings and allowed 11 hits and 9 runs (6 earned) with 2 walks and 1 K. Skyler Weber doubled twice off of him and Stephen Wrenn homered. Beggs doesn't have an overpowering fastball, but he locates it well. As I recall, his curveball was not effective at all when we played, but it's typically good pitch for him. His numbers are much better this year. He's 4-0 in 4 appearances, all starts, and sports an outstanding 0.94 ERA. His 28 2/3 innings lead their squad and he's posted an impressive 30/4 K/BB. The opposition is only hitting .144 against him.
Sunday afternoon, we'll face off with Kyle Cody. Cody is the 2nd straight giant Sunday starter that we'll see, standing at 6'8 and weighing 245 pounds. He comes from Chippewa Falls Wisconsin. Cody was drafted in the 2nd round, 72nd overall last season, but opted (surprisingly) to return to Lexington. Cody is once again their top pro prospect. To say he was really good against us last year would be an understatement. His league numbers were poor coming into his start in the rubber game against us, but he looked every bit like an elite guy that afternoon. He threw 8 shutout innings against us, allowing 6 hits and striking out 5. I remember being a bit surprised when he took the hill to start the 9th. I don't know what his pitch count was, but I remember thinking that they'd gotten a great day already from a guy who'd really struggled to that point. Jared Walsh lead off with a solo HR to tie the game, and I tell ya, the mood in that stadium did a 180 in about 5 seconds. More on that in a minute. Cody did not pitch well in San Diego and apparently disappointed a number of the scouts who were there to see him (per the article I read in either Baseball America or D1Baseball). All in all, he's 2-1 in 4 starts and has a 5.40 ERA. He's thrown 18 1/3 innings and struck out 20 while walking 8. Opponents are hitting .247 against him. We know that this guy can pitch, though, regardless of what he's done to this point. He can hit 98 with his fastball, but we should see it more in the mid 90s, similar to Robert Tyler. He also has a very good curveball.
Offensively, I noticed that Javon Shelby did not play for the Wildcats last weekend, but returned on Tuesday afternoon. I think he's their returning hitter from last year. We'll see him at 3rd base and hitting 3rd this weekend. Shelby comes in at a robust .349/.508/.767 and has hit 4 HRs. The junior from Lexington is a right handed hitter, as I remember.
Storm Wilson is another guy to watch. We should see him in CF and hitting leadoff. He's hitting .300/.444/.500. and has also stolen 4 bases. Wilson is a 4th year junior from Science Hill Kentucky. I can't remember which way he hits, but I want to say he's a southpaw.
Evan White should hit 2nd and play 1st base. White is off to a terrific start hitting .388/.442/.522 with 1 HR and is a perfect 6/6 in stolen bases. White is a sophomore from Gahannah Ohio.
Kentucky has struck out 103 times in their 16 games played, nearly 6 1/2 per. That may bode well for our pitching staff this weekend. They have been fairly aggressive and very efficient on the bases, converting 22 of 27 stolen bases.
Kentucky was in a great shape to make a regional last season. They'd already won series in Baton Rouge and Gainesville. They were 3 outs away from winning a series against us, at home, in May. Then Jared Walsh hit the HR and sent the thing to extras. Kentucky retired our first hitters in the 10th. Then Stephen Wrenn beat out an IF hit. Then Keegan McGovern singled him around to 3rd. Then we drew a walk. Then Daniel Nichols got a 2 RBI base hit. By the time the smoke cleared, we put up a 5 spot and went on to win 6-1. It all started with 2 outs and the bases empty (kinda like that Saturday at South Carolina in 2011). I don't know that one game really ever costs a team a regional or puts a team into one. You play 56 overall and 30 in the conference. Some are more valuable than others, obviously, but I don't know that any one, single game is ever the difference. But you can bet your last dollar that Kentucky will view that Sunday game against us as the difference. I would if I were in their shoes. It's such a long season and who knows the extent to which anyone really "circles" a series, but I bet they'll come down here with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. I think we would if the roles were reversed.
Beyond all that, the reality is that neither us nor Kentucky were picked to do very much in the SEC this season. Both schools know full well what lies ahead in the 9 weeks after this series and both know that it's critically important to start off on the right foot this weekend. Sure, that's always important, but it seems more so for this weekend. I'm expecting a very intense series in Athens this weekend.
