For the first time in the history of the University of Kentucky baseball program, the team known as the Bat Cats will be competing in the College World Series.
UK has put together its most successful season ever with a Southeastern Conference co-championship, a regional title, and their first super regional championship. That came on Sunday night in Lexington when the Wildcats held on for a tense 3-2 win over Oregon State, a perennial college baseball powerhouse, in front of a raucous crowd at Kentucky Proud Park.
Coming into the postseason, the primary question mark was how would the pitching staff perform. So far, so good.
Trey Pooser has somewhat unexpectedly developed into being the staff ace, and he shut down the hard-hitting Beavers, allowing just one hit during his seven-inning stint on Saturday in Kentucky’s 10-0 triumph. The bullpen has also stepped up in key situations, and for UK to enjoy success in Omaha that will need to continue.
Charles Schwab Field should play to the Bat Cats’ offensive strengths. It is an expansive park, which could make it difficult for teams that rely heavily on the long ball. On the other hand, Kentucky utilizes what has proven to be an effective combination of an aggressive style of baserunning, with base hits sprayed all over the field. They do possess a fair amount of power as well, but primarily, the UK offense features more of a small ball style.
Kentucky (45-14) opens play on Saturday against 38-21 North Carolina State at 2 p.m., and ESPN will televise the entirety of the MCWS. The Wolfpack, winners of 18 of their past 23 games, upended Georgia in game three of the Athens Super Regional to earn a spot, and they’re a team that relies on hitting home runs. They smashed four bombs in their 8-5 win over the Bulldogs in the clincher on Monday night.
We will have much more to say about the rest of the Men’s College World Series field in Saturday’s column.
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WHY OMAHA? – Some of you may be wondering how in the world Omaha, Nebraska became the home of the College World Series.
The first time it was played in the midwestern city was 1950 after the mayor of Omaha and a few business leaders attended the 1949 event in Wichita, Kansas, and successfully pitched the idea to NCAA officials to move the CWS to Omaha. That came after Mayor Johnny Rosenblatt, a baseball fan and former amateur player, pushed the city to build Omaha Municipal Stadium (later named for Rosenblatt in 1964) to attract a minor league baseball team and other events. It opened in 1948, and the founding fathers saw an excellent opportunity after attending the ’49 CWS.
Following several years of failing to turn a profit, the city rallied around the event, and the CWS became a staple of the community. Volunteers look forward to the event every June, and attendance began to grow exponentially. The increased interest eventually led to the construction of a new 24,505-seat (expandable to 35.000) venue, TD Ameritrade Park, which
began hosting the CWS in 2011. Charles Schwab acquired the park in 2020, and subsequently changed the name to Charles Schwab Field Omaha in 2021, known to locals as simply “The Chuck.” (What a tremendous nickname, right?)
The attendance record for what has been rebranded as the MCWS (Men’s College Word Series) has been broken in each of the last three years, climbing to a total of 392,646 fans in 2023, an average of 24,559 per game. After the expected huge crowds this week, the total attendance of the event will surpass the 12 million mark since coming to Omaha 74 years ago.
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REDS SEARCH FOR CONSISTENCY – Over the course of 162 games, every team in Major League Baseball experiences its share of peaks and valleys. The objective is to keep the valleys to an absolute minimum, and to excel as much as possible in an attempt to stay at the top of the heap.
The Cincinnati Reds have already ridden the roller coaster of peaks and valleys during their first 66 games, and there’s still 96 games to be played as this is being written on Tuesday morning. The month of May is one the Reds - and their fans — would just as soon forget, but the team has heated up in June, winning seven consecutive games before falling to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday afternoon.
Each and every game is important, but it could be argued that the head-to-head divisional games carry an extra degree of importance, and after the brief two-game home series against the American League Central leading Cleveland Guardians, the Reds jump right back into action against National League Central foes. First on the agenda begins Friday with a three-
game series in Milwaukee, which is usually a house of horrors for the Redlegs. That will be followed by three games in Pittsburgh against an up-and-coming Pirates club next week. After a three-game weekend home series against the Red Sox, it’s right back into more divisional play. Cincy hosts the Pirates for three games June 24-26, before heading to St. Louis for a four-game set that will wrap up the month of June.
We will know much more about this team when they begin July with three games in the Bronx against the red-hot Yankees, and whether or not they have a legitimate shot at catching the Brewers, who lead the Reds, Cubs and Redbirds by seven games, and the Bucs by seven and a half in the jumbled NL Central.
If the bats can remain an asset instead of a detriment, and the club can make more contact instead of whiffing so often, the Reds have a chance to contend for the divisional title. The pitching remains more of a positive than a negative at this point, but the offense has to do its part as well.
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AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR – Following last weekend’s excitement at Kentucky Proud Park, the UK venue will host the semifinals and finals of the KHSAA baseball tournament beginning Friday morning.
A pair of Louisville schools get the action underway at 10 a.m. when the champions of the 6th and 7th regions take the field. Pleasure Ridge Park, the titlists of Region 6 with a record of 38-3, will meet Region 7 champs Trinity, which enters the clash at 38-4. The teams did not meet during the regular season.
At 1:30 p.m., 33-9 McCracken County, the Region 1 titleholder, will square off against the Region 3 champions, Owensboro Catholic (31-7). Those teams did not meet during the season either, but McCracken played both PRP and Trinity early in the season. The Mustangs defeated the Panthers 7-5, and fell to the Shamrocks 3-2. Owensboro Catholic fell to PRP 7-6 in nine innings on May 11.
The championship game at KPP will be held on Saturday at 3:30.
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MAVERICKS IN DESPERATION MODE – After dropping the first two games of the NBA Finals in Boston, the Dallas Mavericks come into this evening’s game in “Big D” needing a victory in the worst way. Falling behind three games to none would almost certainly doom the Mavs, who will need a great effort from Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and company to keep their dwindling hopes alive. The Celtics, who appear nearly invincible at this point, have not lost a road game in the postseason.
Doncic has been battling chest, knee and ankle injuries, but is still Dallas’ most effective weapon. On the other hand, Irving has not lived up to expectations whatsoever. Even so, expect American Airlines Center to be rocking tonight when the rabid Mavs fans pack the arena as they look to help lift a hungry team to a much-needed win. Game 4 is also set for 8:30 p.m. in Dallas on Friday, before the series shifts back to Boston on Monday, if Dallas avoids the dreaded sweep.
One other note on the Mavericks, with a fact I was reminded of by my friend and former co-worker, Jeff Wendling, a loyal
reader and an excellent former photographer at the Ledger Independent.
Scott Tomlin, a Mason County High School and University of Kentucky graduate, began with the Dallas organization as their communications manager more than 20 years ago. He has steadily worked his way up with the organization and currently holds the title of Vice President of Basketball Communications. Tomlin, a 2002 graduate of the UK College of Communications, began his career with the Mavericks just two years after graduation.
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“Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent.” – Nolan Ryan
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“There is nothing in the world like persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus.” – Mark Twain
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