Rev’s Rundown, May 14: Statement weekend

Welcome to another edition of Rev's Rundown. Contributing writer Adam Revelette offers his thoughts from the week and previews the series against Arkansas, including an interview with Kevin Bohannon.

One of my favorite things about late/postseason baseball is that scouting reports are largely set in stone. Teams have developed their own identities, strengths, and weaknesses, and they’ve had ample time to learn all the same things about their opponents. It’ll be evident this weekend and will show up in big spots next week at the SEC tournament. It simply comes down to execution and competitiveness.

The elephant in the room

There aren’t two ways to explain canceling a game for RPI purposes, but it seemed like UK tried. After banging their Tuesday tilt against Northern Kentucky (who has an RPI of 272), Kentucky baseball released a statement on X:

“Our team faced multiple extended delays over the weekend, extensive travel days and challenging rest and recovery periods. We play a critically important conference series beginning Thursday that demands putting our student-athletes in the best position possible.”

RPI prognosticating aside, UK has several players both on the shelf and on the mend, so a week off is surely welcomed from a personnel standpoint. But the Cats also have guys who could use a “get right” opportunity both on the mound and in the box, and had beautiful weather on Tuesday to boot. As a player who frankly was more likely to play in midweek games anyway, I relished the opportunity to wear Kentucky across my chest and would have been disappointed in having one less chance to do so (it was 'challenging' to swallow the adjectives used in the aforementioned statement, too). It’s hard to see us pass up a chance to play, but UK (33 RPI) was far from alone; Oregon (20), Boston College (29), Central Florida (31), Miami (35), Virginia Tech (39), NC State (41), Purdue (47), Arizona State (48), and Kent State (54) were among schools who also canceled their Tuesday games, along with an East Carolina (53) vs. Campbell (67) matchup. I preferred Arizona State’s messaging the best:

"To each their own,” said Dave Van Horn to the Southwest Times Record before traveling to Lexington earlier this week. “I probably don't want to say a whole lot. Don't schedule if you don't think you're going to play."

Josh Holliday’s pointed words also made waves after Oklahoma State (24 RPI) beat Oral Roberts: 

In other statement news

The NCAA has released a statement that “games canceled to avoid the impact on mathematical metrics will be discussed and could have a negative impact on the subcommittee’s evaluation of a team.” And while valiant in nature, it comes just over two years after the last time they made a similar statement. File this one under “believe it what you see it.”

Now, for statements on the field. For that, I had the privilege of catching up with fellow coach-turned-media guy Kevin Bohannon (247sports.com, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 103.7 The Buzz- Central Arkansas’ Home of the Hogs), who is a former travel coach with the Arkansas Prospects and knows his ball:

Rev: After a rough stretch earlier in the season, Arkansas pitching has settled.  What’s the key to that turnaround?

Kevin Bohannon: "Hunter Dietz (7-2, 3.22 ERA, SEC-leading 108 strikeouts) taking over the game one role, whether it’s Thursday night or Friday night, has been the biggest development. They’ve played a handful of Thursday night openers this year, so he’s sort of used to this schedule, and for him to realize his potential has been huge. After him, though, it drops off some. Gabe Gaeckle (5-3, 4.47) was given the Friday night job because he was the most consistent guy coming back, but he just hasn’t turned the corner. As a starter, he’s 93-94 with a flatter fastball. He’s got two different breaking balls — a power slider and a power curveball. If he’s pitching backward and landing those, he can be effective. But if teams are laying off the spin and sitting fastball, they’re knocking him around."

Rev: Kentucky has dealt with similar issues with rotation expectations. Is that just college baseball right now?

KB: "Absolutely. Year to year, it’s hard to rely on anything with pitching anymore. Cole Gibler, for example, was great coming out of the bullpen as a freshman (52:17 K:BB), but he just hasn’t made the jump as a starter (4.62 ERA, 50:21 K:BB), so he’ll probably move back to the pen this weekend. Expect to see Gaeckle start game two if he doesn’t finish game one."

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Rev: It sounds like Arkansas is really trying to win the first one and piece the rest together?

KB: "Yeah, that’s kind of where they are. Dietz goes out there and hopefully gives them five or six innings, and maybe the offense gets into Kentucky’s bullpen. They’ve been swinging it better lately, hitting a lot more home runs the last 5-6 games."

Rev: That was a really hyped-up unit in the preseason, and has a solid core of Damian Ruiz, Carter Rutenbar, Cam Kozeal, Kuhio Aloy and Ryder Helfrick. Did I miss anyone?

KB: "There is certainly a lot of boom-or-bust. TJ Pompey was always going to strike out a lot but hit home runs (he’s at 14). Maika Niu is athletic and fast, but he’s got some holes in the swing, and good teams have exposed that, as he’s prone to chasing soft away. And then he’ll have moments where you see just how talented he is. Against South Carolina, he had a triple, a homer, and made a great catch in the outfield. Game changer. 

"Reese Robinett is traveling with the team, but he probably won’t play much. He’s got a knee injury right now and is wearing a brace, but Van Horn said he could be available as a late defensive replacement if needed. But they’ll go with Rutenbar or Alexander Peck [at first base], depending on who’s pitching for Kentucky."

Rev: Any other injury updates?

KB: "James DeCremer is an important one. He missed time with illness and then had a calf injury and was out for about a month. Early in the year, he was 94-96 with a hammer breaking ball. Last week he finally looked healthy again. The stuff looked good and, most importantly, he was throwing strikes. Arkansas really needs another dependable right-handed bullpen arm."

Rev: What do you think Arkansas wants out of the SEC Tournament?

KB: "A lot depends on what happens this weekend at Kentucky. I’m sure Coach Van Horn wants to stay on a normal routine as much as possible. Ideally, they’d probably like staying around the 8-seed and starting on Wednesday so they can keep things lined up for postseason play:

"There is a motivation there to keep the streak of 18+ SEC wins in eight straight seasons going. Arkansas has been the only program to ever do that, along with Skip Bertman’s LSU Tigers. If they sweep Kentucky, they can stand alone. But then again, most experts are thinking Arkansas is going on the road in the postseason, largely due to the fact they couldn’t finish off sweeps against Missouri or South Carolina. I think it’s going to be a weird series, honestly!"

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