Kentucky baseball 2026 schedule breakdown

Kentucky baseball officially announced its full schedule for the upcoming 2026 season on Tuesday. The Wildcats travel to North Carolina to take on UNC Greensboro for a three-game set to open the season. Kentucky will make its Kentucky Proud Park debut a few days later against the Morehead State Eagles.

Game times and TV designations will come at a later date.

Let's dive into some main takeaways from the full schedule:

Kentucky will play 29 games against teams that made the 2025 NCAA Tournament, including nine games against teams that reached the College World Series.
The toughest series on the road could be March 27 – 29 against defending national champion LSU. It's just the third weekend of SEC play, so it could be a hostile environment for some transfers and freshmen who are still adjusting to SEC play.
When it comes to the home slate, it seems like a three-horse race between Vandy, Tennessee, and Arkansas for who will be the toughest opponent. That trio is the last three home series of the year, but I will give the nod to Tennessee. Despite Tony Vitello no longer being in the dugout, the Vols should still have a formidable squad in 2026.
Kentucky will continue its home-and-home series against EKU and Louisville in 2026. As in recent years, the EKU series will take place on back-to-back days, March 3 and 4, starting in Richmond before concluding at KPP. The Louisville games are more spaced out, with the first one at home on April 7 and the road trip scheduled for April 21.
It would not be a schedule crafted by Nick Mingione if it were not set up to have a strong RPI. In 2026, Kentucky will play 12 teams that finished in the top 70 in RPI last season.
Louisville is another obvious team to consider when evaluating RPI, and it should be a significant boost if Kentucky can win those games. The Cardinals were No. 24 in RPI last season, and it seems like they float around that same area every year.
Looking beyond the conference, some games that stick out on the schedule in terms of RPI, going in order of the schedule, are an early season contest against WKU. The Hilltoppers should be competitive once again in Conference USA, coming off a 46-14 2025 season. The Hilltoppers finished 46th in RPI last season.
The next team that could be sneaky is Mercer, who finished No. 70 in the RPI in 2025 with a 12-9 record in the Southern Conference.
Another team to watch out for is Murray State Racers, which is part of the Missouri Valley Conference and finished 60th in the RPI last season after advancing to the College World Series.

We won't know how all these RPI projections or tough opponents could turn out until the season unfolds, but nonetheless, the Bat Cats will have a schedule that will test them and put them in a position to make the NCAA Tournament.