Nice victory Sunday in Lexington for the team, 5-3, over the Wildcats. We moved to 28-11 overall and 9-9 in the SEC. We are currently in third place in the East behind No.1 Tennessee, which is 17-1 in conference and 38-3 overall and No.1 in the country. No.14 Georgia is second at 11-7 and 29-12. We are currently not ranked in the D-1 College Baseball Poll, by D-1 Baseball, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper has us ranked 6th, and the USA Today Coaches’ Poll has us at No.22 and we have a No.7 RPI, which is important to the NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection Committee. So, it’s all across the board. We just need to start taking care of business and the rankings will take care of themselves. No.5 Arkansas leads the West at 12-6 and 32-9 overall. No.19 Auburn is next at 11-7 and 30-12. No.22 LSU is next at 10-8 and 27-13. No.21 A&M is tied with LSU at 10-8 and is 25-14 overall. Alabama is 9-9 and 25-17. So if the season ended today, we’d be tied with Alabama for the 7th seed. But there is a lot of baseball left to determine things.

On Sunday, freshman Bryce Cunningham pitched well for us and is really settling into his Sunday role. He might be the answer there. Bryce went 4, gave up 3 hits, with 1 earned run, a walk and 2 K’s. Bryce has good stuff and a mid 90’s fastball, so like what I’m seeing out of our Headland Alabama native. We’re developing as a team in a lot of areas. Our defense is fielding at .980, and that’s excellent. We’re hitting .297 as a team. Nick Maldonado pitched 2.1 innings and did pretty well, though he gave up one earned run but it wasn’t his fault as an error cost him getting out of the inning. Nick is getting back into the swing of things. He’s definitely going to help us in May. He could be a starter again by the time the regular season concludes. Nelson Berkwich and Thomas Schultz finished it off. Thomas went 2.2, gave up a hit, a walk and 4 K’s. He earned his 6th save of the season. He’s been super as a closer.His ERA is 1.71 and, in 21 innings, has only walked 4 and struck out 26. Enrique Bradfield made another circus catch over the left central field wall over the weekend robbing a Kentucky hitter of a home run. What a player he is. He’s hitting .293 and is 26-of-26 in stolen bases. That’s out of sight great. Would like to see Enrique hit .330 where he’s used to hitting. He’ll get there.

Right fielder Spencer Jones had an excellent week last week hitting .375 in 4 games. We were 3-1 in those games and took 2 out of 3 from KY over the weekend. Spence was 6-for-16 with 2 doubles, 1 triple and 6 Ribeyes. Spence is hitting .365 with 6 homers and 34 RBIs. Dom Keegan leads the team at .407 with 7 homers and 40 Ribbies.

And Chris McElvain was named SEC Pitcher of the Week for his performance last Friday Night in a 10-0 Commodores victory over Kentucky. Chris went 7, gave up no hits with 3 walks and 9 K’s. Christian Little finished off the no-hitter with 2 innings of no-hit ball with a walk and 4 K’s. So, super stuff from Chris. Like that from our Friday Night guy, and love what Christian and Patrick Reilly are doing out of the bullpen. They are valuable arms for us.

This week No.21 Texas A&M comes to the Hawk, Thursday-Saturday. Thursday’s game is at 7 PM CT on ESPNU, Friday’s game is at 6 PM CT on SEC Network+, and Saturday’s finale is at 2 PM CT on SEC Network+. So it’s a huge series for the team as we matriculate into the second half of the season against a high quality opponent. Will have pitchers and more on A&M tomorrow on the blog.

Men’s Golf

After a sensational performance at the SEC Championship and going back to back as SEC Champions, Coach Limbaugh has the team taking a short break to decompress a little and take final exams. Exams ain’t no joke on the West End, so the guys need to take care of their school work. And they’re now turning their attention to the NCAA Tournament. Can’t get over what a team we have with Cole Sherwood, Gordon Sargent, Reid Davenport, William Moll, Harrison Ott and Jackson Van Paris leading the way. What a year we’ve had, and there’s so much ahead to accomplish.

The NCAA Men’s Golf Selection Show will take place next Wednesday, May 4, at 3 PM CT on the Golf Channel. The six Regional sites are Bryan, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, New Haven, Connecticut, Palm Beach Gardens, FL., Stockton, California and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It would make sense for us to go to Tuscaloosa regionally since we’re No.3 in the country and we won the SEC, but I’m sure the guys will go wherever we get assigned. Florida or California would be pretty awesome, too. I’ll talk with Coach Limbaugh in the next week or so and give you more. NCAA Regional play will be played Monday, May 16th-Thursday May 18th, 3 rounds of stroke play. According to what I’m reading, 81 teams makeup the 6 regionals with the top 5 teams after 54 holes of stroke play qualifying for the NCAA Championships, which will be played once again at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona on Friday, May 27th through Wednesday, June 1st. I’ll give you more about the NCAA Championship format if we can make it there, which we’ve got a super shot if we keep up our stellar play. Coach Limbaugh will have the guys ready, that’s for sure. Have an awesome day. I’ll be in touch.