Kentucky Wildcats baseball

Infobox College baseball team
name = Kentucky Wildcats
founded = 1896

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logo_size =
university = University of Kentucky
conference = Southeastern Conference
conference_short = SEC
division = Eastern
city = Lexington
stateabb = KY
state = Kentucky
coach = Gary Henderson
tenure = 1st
stadium = Cliff Hagan Stadium
capacity = 3,000
nickname = Wildcats
color1 = Blue
color2 = White
color3 =
fontcolor = FFFFFF
hex1 = 00407a
hex2 = FFFFFF
hex3 =
national_champion =
cws =
ncaa_tourneys = 1988, 1993, 2006, 2008
conference_tournament =
conference_champion = 2006The Kentucky Wildcats baseball team represents the University of Kentucky in NCAA Division I college baseball. Along with most other Kentucky athletic teams, the baseball team participates in the Eastern division of the Southeastern Conference. The Wildcats play their home games on campus in Cliff Hagan Stadium, and they are coached by head coach Gary Henderson after former coach John Cohen left for Mississippi State in 2008.

2008 Kentucky Wildcats baseball team

History

The baseball program, partly hampered by being the northernmost school in the heavily warm-weather SEC, has historically achieved only modest success at best. Wildcats baseball hit bottom at the turn of the 21st century, with only one winning season from 1997 through 2004, and last-place finishes in the SEC East division in every season from 2001 through 2005. In 2003, after the retirement of longtime coach Keith Madison, Kentucky hired Florida assistant John Cohen as head coach. Cohen was able to lead the Cats to a winning overall season in 2005, despite another SEC cellar finish.

Few could have expected the Cinderella season the Cats would have in 2006. They literally went from worst to first in the SEC, winning a regular-season conference title for the first time in three decades, and being ranked as high as fourth in the country by one major baseball poll during the season. However, the newly energized Kentucky baseball faithful saw the Cats crash out of the SEC tournament early and fail to make it out of the regionals of the NCAA tournament at home.

There were high hopes for the 2007 team and for the most part they delivered. After going undefeated at 19-0 they eventually fell against Arkansas They then fell into a tailspin but rebounded at the end of the year to just miss the SEC playoffs after a Tennessee Volunteers win. They finished with a 37-19 record.

In 2008, Kentucky started off strong posting a 19-0 record and being ranked as high as #4 in the nation. The Wildcats rolled into conference play and began to struggle after being swept by eventual College World Series runner-up Georgia and College World Series participant LSU. The Wildcats finished the season strong and made it into the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats would end up losing to Arizona in the regional final in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Wildcats finished the season with a 44-19 record and #25 in the final ESPN/USA Today poll.

tadium

The Wildcats play their home games in Cliff Hagan Stadium.

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Head Coaches

Year-by-Year Results

All-Americans

*Dom Fucci – 1949
*Jeff Abbott – 1994
*Chad Green – 1996
*Ryan Strieby – 2006
*Sean Coughlin – 2007
*Sawyer Carroll – 2008
*Collin Cowgill – 2008

Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament

*The NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament started in 1947.
*The format of the tournament has changed through the years.

Former Players

*Brandon Webb

ee also

*Kentucky Wildcats

References