How good should Kentucky feel about its NCAA Tournament resume?

Bat Cats Central asked writers from national publications about Kentucky's NCAA Tournament resume at the conclusion of the 2025 regular season.

Photo by Matthew Mueller of UK Athletics.

Kentucky’s 2025 regular season concluded with a sweep to Vanderbilt over the weekend in a series that produced some of the more soul-crushing defeats for the Wildcats in recent memory. Kentucky jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opener and then led 7-2 in the middle innings before seeing Vanderbilt rally. The Wildcats had the Commodores down to their final strike before Braden Holcomb crushed a three-run homer to left-center field off Simon Gregersen to steal game one 8-7.

The Wildcats almost turned the tables in game two, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth to take an 8-7 lead into the final half inning. But Vanderbilt’s Jonathan Vastine went the opposite way off James McCoy for his second homer of the game to give the Commodores a 9-8 win. And in Saturday’s finale, Kentucky led 3-0 going to the bottom of the sixth before Vanderbilt scored five runs over the next two innings, eventually winning 5-3 to complete the sweep.

In all, the Wildcats led at some point in 27 of their 30 SEC games but finished with a 13-17 record in the league and 29-23 overall. They will face Oklahoma — who they swept at Kentucky Proud Park less than two weeks ago — in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Tuesday at approximately 2 p.m. ET in Hoover, Alabama.

It’s been a true rollercoaster season for Kentucky this year. In one light, this was always a transition year following last season’s College World Series breakthrough. Some pieces remained, but by and large, this was a new roster. Reaching 13 wins this year in the league — Kentucky was not one of the teams that padded its SEC win total by playing Missouri, which had one of the worst SEC seasons in the last 50 years — was a sign that this team could still contend for the NCAA Tournament even in a rebuilding year. But it’s easy to look at the close losses and see a team could’ve been in contention for a third consecutive hosting bid.

Instead, Kentucky heads to Hoover looking to extend its stay as long as possible. At least one win would likely have everyone feeling much better about the postseason hopes, but speaking with some of the top writers at national publications covering college baseball, the Wildcats may have already done enough to be included in the field of 64.