Another stellar performance by the team in an 8-2 victory last night before 3,323 happy fans at the Hawk. Love the crowds, now that the NCAA is allowing full capacity at games. Great to have the support for the team.

We moved to 39-12 overall and 19-9 in the SEC and with a Tennessee 3-2 loss @ South Carolina, we moved a 1/2 game ahead of Tennessee, who is 19-10. So, today is huge if we want to win the division and secure the second seed in the tournament. Arkansas won last night over Florida, 4-3, so they’re at 21-8 and have secured the No.1 seed in the tournament. Wish we could have played that third game against Alabama a couple of weeks ago. That would have given us a chance to at least tie Arkansas with a victory today, but we still need to bear down today.

C.J. Rodriguez, who was selected yesterday as one of the 16 semifinalists for the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award which will be awarded at the College World Series in Omaha, had a huge night at the plate and behind the dish. C.J. had a clutch 2 out, 2 run single in the 6th scoring Enrique and Isaiah to tie the score at 2. Kentucky had posted 2 runs against Jack Leiter early, though Jack ended up pitching a pretty solid game. Isaiah added a clutch, 2 run single in the 7th after Tate Kolwyck walked, Troy LaNeve singled and Jayson Gonzalez laid a perfect bunt down to move Tate and Troy up 90 feet. Jayson had a really good game as well. Enrique was intentionally walked with one out in the 7th, and then Isaiah laced a line drive to left scoring Tate and Troy.

In the 8th, Jack Bulger hit a majorly deep shot over the central field wall, then, Troy came up with 2 runners on and cranked one out to central as well for our 8th run, a 3 run shot by Troy, his 5th of the season.

Jack posted 3 hits and a Ribeye, C.J. had 2 hits and 2 Ribbies, and Troy was 2 for 4 with 3 Ribbies. The bats got off to a slow start, but started hammering it in the 6th and kept the momentum going at the plate the rest of the game.

Jack went 6, gave up 3 hits, 2 earned with 2 walks and 8 K’s. Jack now has 127 K’s on the season, 2 back of Kumar’s 129 for the NCAA lead. Jack didn’t get the victory, but I liked how he settled down after a little early trouble and pitched really well.

Chris McElvain came in and pitched 1.1 innings of 2 hit, 0 run ball, and Hugh Fisher came in for the top of the 8th with one and gave up a soft base hit, but then coaxed a tremendously clutch double play to get us out of a 1st and 2nd jam when the score was just 4-2. Awesome stuff by our hard throwing senior lefty. Would love to see Hugh be a big part of our plans in the postseason. He’s hung in there so well, and has superb stuff, just has battled with arm injuries throughout his career and has been a little wild this year, but has shown really good flashes lately. Think Hugh can help us in late May, and throughout June.

Nick Maldonado came in for the 9th and retired the side giving up 2 hits, 0 runs with 0 walks and a K. Good to see Nick back out there after a tough outing against Ole Miss last Sunday. Last Sunday was tough for all our pitchers in Oxford. Believe in Nick 100 percent. He doesn’t usually come in when we’re leading by 6. He’s a classic closer who needs the pressure of the high leverage, 1 run games to bear down and be the stellar pitcher that he is. I think Corbs wanted to get him some work in. McElvain earned the victory. He is now 4-1 with a 4.01 ERA. Chris will be a big part of our postseason plans, so will need him to step up when his number is called upon.

Today’s game is at 2 PM CT on SEC Network+. Patrick Reilly is on the hill for us. Not sure on Kentucky’s pitcher, they kind of have an all hands on deck pitching mentality today as they are desperate for a victory to enhance their NCAA postseason hopes.

We HAVE to get a good performance out of Patrick to solidify our third pitcher, which is critical in the postseason. Patrick has shown signs lately of being that guy, but got rocked last Sunday at Ole Miss, so he needs to rebound. He has super stuff and is an awesome competitor, so know he’s capable. We need this game today. Hoping Patrick can provide the performance we need. C.J. also threw a runner out at 2nd last night. We’ve played stellar defense all weekend. Tate has been terrific at short and Jayson at 3rd and Parker Noland at 2nd have also been very solid. Dom Keegan is a terrific 1st baseman along with being an exceptional hitter. We will take Carter Young back as soon as he’s ready and Carter is ready to play if given the go ahead. We could see him back next week at the SEC Tourney in Hoover at the Hoover Met. We are definitely playing Wednesday and have avoided playing single elimination on Tuesday, so we’ll be in the double elimination round. Just need to win today to secure the No.2 seed. Will let you know how today goes later on today or tomorrow morning. Have an awesome day and Anchor Down.