It's win or go home from here on out for Kentucky

The Wildcats’ attempt at a Cinderella run during the SEC Tournament hit a roadblock around 2 a.m. local time early this morning. After securing their way into the double-elimination portion of the bracket, Kentucky Baseball suffered an 11-6 blowout defeat to LSU that included head coach Nick Mingione being ejected from the game.

So, instead of facing a top 5 team from the state of Tennessee that the ‘Cats have beaten twice, Kentucky gets to face a top 15 team instead, this one from Nashville. UK will face Vanderbilt at approximately 2:30 p.m. EST on ESPN later today.

What the ‘Cats have to do to survive

Win. This team has to start winning ball games. Their loss to LSU was their one chance to slip up and lose. From here on out, it’s win or go home. Kentucky is on the outside looking in for the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

Obviously, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to snag one away from a perennial powerhouse in Vanderbilt, especially with the ‘Dores off their fourth loss to Tennessee this season. But hey, it’s baseball, anything can happen.

We’ve already seen the ‘Cats steal one from the Commodores once this season in Lexington. While Vanderbilt won the overall series pretty comfortably, you don’t have to play a series at this stage of the tournament.

The ‘Dores used up Dylan DeLucia and Devin Futrell over the past few days to kick off the SEC Tournament, but they still have a litany of elite arms to use against the Bat ‘Cats. One option could be Chris McElvain, who went seven innings of scoreless ball in the 10-0 no-hit win for the Commodores over Kentucky earlier this season. Or they could go with Carter Holton, the highly touted freshman who threw in the one game the ‘Cats won in the series back in April.

This has all the looks of a game where Kentucky is going to have to squeeze out some runs through small ball play. The ‘Cats have some guys who have no issues in the power aspect, but this Vanderbilt pitching staff is far too good to expect a high-scoring game, especially when they’re fighting for seeding just as much as Kentucky is trying to steal one.

Sophomore Ryan Hagenow will take the mound for Kentucky on Friday. The ‘Cats have made it this far in part due to the elite production out of the pen, and they’re going to need that production desperately if they want to keep their season alive.

How Kentucky can make the NCAA Tournament

Just win, baby.

Al Davis was certainly on to something all those years ago. If the Wildcats can somehow sneak a win out against Vanderbilt it would do wonders to their resume. They would then have .500 or better records against Tennesee, Vanderbilt and Auburn on the year. That’s not including the series victory against TCU who’s the No. 1 ranked team in the Big 12 Tournament.

The unfortunate truth however is that even if they do beat the Commodores, odds are it still won’t be enough to outweigh their bad losses and make the NCAA Tournament. If they beat Vanderbilt, they would then move on to face off against Arkansas, who swept the ‘Cats to open up conference play this season.

If Kentucky is somehow able to win against Vanderbilt and then later this weekend against Arkansas, then we can start to have an actual dialogue about if the ‘Cats deserve a spot in the Big Dance.

Things are still looking bleak for the Wildcats, but anything can happen in baseball. Put the bat on the ball, put it in play and just hope the cards fall in your favor. First pitch against Vanderbilt is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.