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UK Baseball ranked in final polls

  • * From UK Media Relations...

    BASEBALL FINISHES 2012 RANKED FOR 13TH CONSECUTIVE WEEK
    Wildcats Equal Highest End of Season Ranking by Baseball America in Program History

    LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Ranked No. 20 in the final Baseball America poll, Kentucky has finished the year by equaling its highest end-of-season ranking in school annals, matching the No. 20 ranking from the 2006 season. UK was also ranked No. 19 in the final USA Today/ESPN Coaches top-25 poll, released on Tuesday.

    Kentucky (45-18) finished the year with the most wins, and its best finish in the NCAA Tournament and SEC Tournament in the history of the program. The Wildcats finished the campaign ranked No. 20 in the Baseball America poll, equaling the No. 20 ranking UK ended with in 2006. UK finished the year in the Baseball America ranking three times in the 23-year history of the poll, also ranked No. 24 in 2008.

    With the end of the season rankings by Baseball America and USA Today, UK finishes the year ranked a school-record 13 consecutive weeks.

    The Wildcats set a bevy of records and collected several awards in the process of its record-breaking season. UK set new school records for wins, strikeouts and fielding percentage, finishing with the second-best ERA in program annals. UK was ranked No. 1 in the nation for three weeks in 2012 for the first time in UK history, led the Southeastern Conference standings for eight of 10 weeks and won a record seven of its 10 conference weekend series.

    UK head coach Gary Henderson was named SEC Coach of the Year and centerfielder Austin Cousino became the first player in school history to be voted SEC Freshman of the Year by the league coaches. Cousino, catcher Luke Maile, lefty Corey Littrell and two-way standout A.J. Reed each earned All-SEC accolades. Cousino and Reed became the second and third UK players to earn freshman All-America honors in school history following the season, with Cousino earning a spot on the 22-man USA Collegiate National Team.

    Boasting a plethora of talent all over the diamond, UK has eight players in the prestigious Cape Cod Summer Collegiate League in 2012, equaling LSU for the nation’s lead. Following the 2012 season, UK had a school-record nine players picked in the MLB Draft, the second-most players drafted from one school in the 2012 draft. Since UK won the 2006 SEC Championship, a total of 51 UK players have been drafted or signed a professional contract, a total of 7.29 players per season, in improvement from the 2.17 players drafted or sign per season before 2006.

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    E-mail: JDRUM@247SPORTS.COM Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/JDrumUK

    Jeff Drummond

  • Congrats to the batcats. It's a shame that they got dealt a bad draw to the NCAAT and had to face a very hot Kent State team who made a nice run.

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    Stoopified!

    cobbycobb

  • Aaron Fit picks us as a sleeper for 2013 CWS.

    Twitter: @Br_Boston

    TKE_

  • TKE_ said...

    Aaron Fit picks us as a sleeper for 2013 CWS.

    That would be a blast. I assume, you'd be Omaha-bound if that happens? smoke

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    E-mail: JDRUM@247SPORTS.COM Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/JDrumUK

    Jeff Drummond

  • Very solid year for the BatCats. Hope they can improve upon their success next season and get to the CWS. After the cats got beat I didn't watch a lick of college baseball.

    tWhit

  • TKE_ said...

    Aaron Fit picks us as a sleeper for 2013 CWS.

    Would be so much fun if UK could ever make its way to Omaha. If Grundy doesn't sign and comes back for his senior year, then UK has 2 of its 3 weekend starters back, including ace Littrell. Maybe slide Shephard or Reed into the third spot. The other and Mahar as primary middle relievers? And hope some of the talented freshman arms can contribute?

    But regardless, with the losses of Maile, McCarthy, Flynn, and Williams, it seems like the big question will be whether next year's squad can generate run. This past season they struggled to score runs down the stretch, and they've lost most of their best hitters. TKE, I know you follow it really closely and have some "ins", where is the offense going to come from?

    Jeremy Grey

  • Jeff Drummond said...

    That would be a blast. I assume, you'd be Omaha-bound if that happens? smoke

    I was planning on it this year!rockon

    Twitter: @Br_Boston

    TKE_

  • Jeremy Grey said...

    Would be so much fun if UK could ever make its way to Omaha. If Grundy doesn't sign and comes back for his senior year, then UK has 2 of its 3 weekend starters back, including ace Littrell. Maybe slide Shephard or Reed into the third spot. The other and Mahar as primary middle relievers? And hope some of the talented freshman arms can contribute?

    But regardless, with the losses of Maile, McCarthy, Flynn, and Williams, it seems like the big question will be whether next year's squad can generate run. This past season they struggled to score runs down the stretch, and they've lost most of their best hitters. TKE, I know you follow it really closely and have some "ins", where is the offense going to come from?

    What hurt us this year is inconsistency at the bat. Flynn had a down period, Maile had some games when he didn't show up, McCarthy was a pop-up machine, but came on late. I love these guys, but we had a few rough spots.

    Next year, we simply see an evolution of the younger guys. McConkey, Thomas can BLAST it, Reed's stick should be much improved and when he gets it, he has monstrous power. Still have Cousi, JT and Zack. Even Reida has hit well up in the cape.

    Pitching wise I love what we have. Littrell who could be poised for an AA year and Grundy, who really picked up late in the year, could be the top two starter combo in the nation. Throw in Reed on Saturday and we are set. Bullpen still has Shepard, Gott, Mahar and Wijas among others.

    Oh this gets me excited.

    Maybe its my big blue glasses, but I think the offense will be pretty good next season.

    This post was edited by TKE_ on 6/28/2012 at 7:52 AM

    Twitter: @Br_Boston

    TKE_

  • Henderson loves the potential of Jeff Boehm too, who was the guy who started the 8th inning rally in the final game against Kent State by blasting a ball off the CF wall. Big kid, lefty, has tons of power.

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    Follow me on Twitter: '@TCPMattMay'

    Matt May ●

  • Yes... easy to miss guys when we have more than a couple. We will be pretty good next year too and with the experience, maybe go a little further in the tourney.

    Twitter: @Br_Boston

    TKE_

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