Matt,
The cats had a good season, but they got what they deserved. They finished the season very poorly. With one more win in the last series against Florida they win the SEC. Same goes for the MSU series and they didn't get it done in the SEC tournament. I will be surprised if they make it through this weekend. Their midweek games against UL and IU were awful.
They earned the right over the course of the season to be one of 16 schools hosting a regional, and did so in the toughest conference in America. The weren't exactly horrendous down the stretch either, they did go 7-5 in their final 12 games and beat a pair of NCAA Tournament teams. Plus, they beat Indiana, didn't lose to them.
Alas, as TKE said none of that matters now, which is exactly what the story said. Go play ball and write your own ending if you're UK.
It's obvious the committee valued RPI. It went straight down the list. The top 15 RPI teams are hosts. They skipped No. 16 Arizona State and No. 17 UK, then gave the final spot to No. 18 Rice, which was ranked ahead of UK in all of the polls.
Hope the 'Cats put the disappointment of not hosting behind them and come up with a big effort to win game one versus Kent State. Sounds like the starter for Kent St. is a stud, so UK will have to manufacture some runs, play good defense, and of course, Taylor Rogers needs to come through with a very good outing.
Baseball Notebook: Rogers to start