Three members of Kentucky's 2026 class will play in the Perfect Game All-American Classic, plus a rankings update from Perfect Game and news of a new commitment.
Kentucky is heading to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.
The Wildcats were selected as the No. 3 seed in the Clemson Regional and will square off against two-seed West Virginia on Friday. Clemson will face USC Upstate.
It was a tense Monday morning for the Wildcats as they were thought to be on the bubble heading into the selection show. The bubble shrank over the weekend as teams around the country stole automatic bids during conference tournaments. As more teams locked up bids, Kentucky fell in projected bracketology. By late Sunday night, Baseball America and D1baseball.com had slid Kentucky to its first team out of the field.
But in the end, the selection committee viewed the Wildcats as safely in. They were not listed among the last four teams in, signifying that the committee felt Kentucky’s strength of schedule, which was No. 9 nationally, and eight RPI top 25 wins made it a strong fit despite finishing 29-24 and 13-17 overall in the SEC.
Kentucky reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2025 is validation for the program that Nick Mingione has built. Nearly the entire pitching rotation and starting nine from the 2024 College World Series team was gone, making this year an uphill battle from the start. Injuries played a role this spring, as it does for every team, but the Wildcats had to go deep into their depth to win games throughout the spring. They’ll have a shot to reach Omaha for the second straight year, but regardless of how far Kentucky advances, a new group will get NCAA Tournament experience. Many of those players can return next season, providing an opportunity to lay more groundwork for what could be a team with high expectations in 2026.
But for now, the focus will remain on this weekend. Kentucky eliminated West Virginia from the 2023 Lexington Regional, so there is some familiarity in recent years. The Mountaineers finished 41-14 overall and won the Big 12 regular season with a 19-9 record.
Clemson, the 11th overall seed, is 44-16 overall and went 18-12 in the ACC. The winner of the Clemson Regional will meet up with the winner of the Baton Rouge Regional. LSU is the host school with Dallas Baptist (2), Rhode Island (3) and Little Rock (4) as the other teams.
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Derek Terry is the founder of Bat Cats Central, a leading source for University of Kentucky baseball coverage. Before leaving full-time sportswriting, Derek worked for The Cats' Pause (2017-22) and Cats Illustrated (2015-17).
