LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky baseball team will play 56 regular season games as part of its 2015 schedule, including 32 games at Cliff Hagan Stadium and 30 games in the Southeastern Conference, it was announced by seventh-year head coach Gary Henderson on Thursday.
“We are excited about our 2015 schedule,” Henderson said. “When we start working on the schedule, it is important for us to find challenging non-conference matchups to help us get ready for the great 30-game SEC schedule. We feel like this schedule will be a great test to our club and will present the necessary challenges to help us get ready to compete in the nation’s best conference.”
UK’s 2015 schedule will feature two consecutive weeks on the road to open the year, before the Wildcats host a season-long 11-game homestand to open its home slate. UK will face the annual gauntlet of 30 SEC games, with the Wildcats traveling to league foes South Carolina (44-18 in 2014, No. 15 Final NCAA RPI), LSU (46-16-1, No. 11), Arkansas (40-25, No. 29), Florida (40-23, No. 8) and Missouri (20-33, No. 139). UK will welcome SEC opponents Mississippi State (39-24, No. 28), Texas A&M (36-26, No. 31), Tennessee (31-23, No. 53), Vanderbilt (51-21, No. 2) and Georgia (26-29-1, No. 58) to Cliff Hagan Stadium.
UK will host 32 home games, including in-state rivals Morehead State, Murray State, Louisville, Western Kentucky and Northern Kentucky. UK will also host non-conference midweek tilts with local foes Cincinnati, Wright State, Ohio, Indiana and Xavier. UK will travel to face WKU and Louisville in road midweek matchups.
Kentucky is coming off its eighth all-time NCAA Tournament appearance a year ago, posting 35 wins and equaling the best finishes in UK’s history in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. UK was propelled in 2014 by one of the most historic individual seasons in college baseball history, as two-way star AJ Reed earned unanimous national player of the year honors, while the league athletics directors also tabbed him the SEC Male Athlete of the Year.
The Wildcats return several standouts from their 2014 club, including first-team All-SEC junior outfielder Ka’ai Tom. UK also returns freshman All-SEC second baseman JaVon Shelby and outfield starters Kyle Barrett and Storm Wilson. In addition, UK returns fifth-year senior first baseman Thomas Bernal and catching talents Zach Arnold and Greg Fettes.
On the mound, UK will be led by junior righty Kyle Cody, who is currently rated as one of the top-25 prospects available for the 2015 MLB Draft. Weekend rotation stalwarts Dylan Dwyer and Andrew Nelson also return, along with relief ace Spencer Jack, who had four saves, a 4-1 record and a 1.16 ERA in 26 outings a year ago. UK also returns righties Zach Strecker, Zack Brown, Taylor Martin and Robert Zeigler, in addition to lefties Logan Salow, Ryne Combs and Matt Snyder.
UK will open its schedule on Feb. 13, traveling to face Ball State in Wilmington, N.C., with first pitch at 12 p.m. ET. It marks the second consecutive season that the Wildcats have opened their year at UNC Wilmington, as UK rode a strong pitching performance from Reed and Combs to a lidlifting win over No. 1 Virginia in 2014. UK will face Ball State, Richmond and UNC Wilmington on opening weekend, before traveling across country for four games in Southern California. UK will travel to face USC on Feb. 19 at 9 p.m. ET, before playing a three-game set at UC Santa Barbara.
Kentucky opens its home schedule and a season-long homestand on Feb. 25, hosting Morehead State at 4 p.m. ET at Cliff Hagan Stadium. UK will host Canisius and Massachusetts in weekend series, with UMass playing a four-game set in Lexington.
After a midweek clash with Cincinnati on March 10, the Wildcats will open their SEC road slate at South Carolina on March 13. UK will then alternate weekends on the road and at home in league play until back-to-back home weekends vs. defending NCAA Champion Vanderbilt and Georgia to open May.
The Wildcats will twice be featured as a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series for television interests, including UK’s home weekends with Texas A&M (April 2-4) and Tennessee (April 16-18).
UK’s annual rivalry tilt with Louisville will once again feature a home-and-home series, with UK traveling to the Derby City on April 8, with Louisville returning to Lexington on April 28 for a 7 p.m. first pitch.
The SEC Tournament will be held in Hoover, Ala., at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium from May 20-25.
