Kentucky Wildcats Baseball: Opening Weekend preview

The day that we have been waiting on is finally here, the warm weather has come and the boys of summer are finally taking the field. It’s opening day! Well for college baseball at least and our beloved Bat Cats will be taking the field this weekend in Charleston, S.C. and will be taking on three tough teams. The Wildcats are hoping to continue their winning season record currently of three and the journey begins today.

It looks like the Bat Cats will be sending three experienced weekend pitchers to the mound this weekend; Jordan Cooper, Taylor Rogers and Alex Meyer. All three of these guys have weekend starter experience which is needed to win big games.

Today the Cats take on the 20th ranked team College of Charleston (44-19); this will be a tough match to see where we stand on the season. Facing ranked teams is not thing new to Kentucky who had the seventh-hardest schedule in NCAA last season playing several ranked teams. For the opening day match up it looks to be right handers duel as Cooper will face David Peterson. Peterson is a junior who in 2010 put up an 8-3 record for Cougars in 15 starts. He throws three pitches one of which is an 88-92 sinker that will surprise you. As for the positions players they have six returning players who have the ability to hit for average. A player to watch out for tonight is Cole Raker, he is a senior outfielder who was the Southern Conference player of the year. He finished 2010 with 76 runs, 102 hits and had a batting average of .540. This will be Cooper’s first opening day of his college career it will be a big day for him he will always remember hopefully it will be with a win. If you want to chance to be able to see the Bat Cats take on Charleston you can do that on the cougars website first pitch is scheduled for around 5 PM.

The Saturday match up will place the Cats up against Marshall (27-31) and the Cats will be sending lefty Rogers up against lefty Mike Mason. Mason is coming off a 3-7 season where he put up a 7.71 ERA. Marshall is returning four position players from last season. The Cats did not play Marshall in the 2010 season but did how ever play them three seasons in a row prior so UK head coach Gary Henderson knows the style of play that they like to play. A player to watch out for in this game is Isaac Ballou he is a sophomore outfielder who hit .210 last season but has seemed to find his way as player this summer playing in the Northwoods League. Ballou had 37 RBI and was 24-for-27 in stolen bases, so he had the ability to steal once he gets on base so you have to watch out. The Cats are scheduled to take on Marshall at 5 PM. This game will not have video but if you are in the Lexington area you can listen to it on the Big Blue Sports Network on WGVN 1580 AM or online if you’re out of the hearing area.

The weekend cap will be played against Miami(OH)(28-28) and the Cats will send Meyer out to the mound to face senior south-paw Tyler Melling. Melling posted a 4-7 record with .590 ERA in 15 starts. The Redhawks are an experienced team who is fielding eight returning starters. The player watch out for in the match up will be the senior catcher Adam Weisenburger. In 50 games last season he held a .312 batting average and hit the long ball five times. This game will not be recorded as well so if you want to hear it go to WGVN or online at the schools site.

This will weekend will be a good match up for the Wildcats to show where we stand with our team. The first weekend of baseball is always an exciting one but every game matters once the season has begun. This team has some high goals to win the SEC East and to make it to the NCAA tournament. The first step to that goal starts here.

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