Kentucky was selected for the Morgantown Regional and will take on Wake Forest (38-19) out of the ACC on Friday at noon on ESPN2. West Virginia, the top seed in the regional, plays Binghamton at 5 p.m. ET.
I reached out to coaches around the country who faced each potential opponent to get a better read on the teams. Coaches were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the teams.
The Game One Opponent: Wake Forest Demon Deacons
The Demon Deacons boast some real top-end talent that will stand out this weekend, led in part by ace Chris Levonas, who’s a top prospect for the ’27 draft and has punched 110 tickets in 68.1 innings, good for a near-14.5 K/9:
Southpaw Rhys Bowie is another electric arm UK is likely to see out of the pen on Friday. The pair are the first two Deacs to hit 100 mph in a game since Chase Burns, who’s holding down a 7-1 record as part of the starting rotation with the Cincinnati Reds:
Scouting the Demon Deacons: “They have electric stuff on the mound,” said an ACC coach. “It’s more than a few top-end arms who have continued to develop over the course of the spring. They hadn’t quite settled on a rotation when we played them, but it seemed like every arm had eye-popping metrics or stuff one way or another. They have the ability to pitch out of jams, of course, but they do create them from time to time, provided hitters are disciplined and don’t chase.”
That approach should bode well for Kentucky, which prides itself on plate discipline and on-base percentage.
