Kentucky Wildcats vs. #1 LSU Fighting Tigers at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field in Baton Rouge, LA.

The Fighting Tigers welcome in Kentucky to The Box for a standard Friday through Sunday weekend series. LSU (22-3, 4-2) enters the series as the hottest hitting team in the country scoring 36 runs on 55 hits over the last 3 games against Arkansas and Tulane. Kentucky (16-9, 2-4) opened their SEC season by getting swept by South Carolina, but bounced back last weekend by taking two of three games vs Mississippi State and scoring 24 runs in the series. The Cats played two games this week against in-state opponents, getting beat on Tuesday night 12-3 by the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky then taking care of Morehead State with a 9-4 win on Wednesday. LSU leads the all-time series with Kentucky 46-25-1. The Tigers have won 11 of the last 15 series between the clubs and 8 of the last 9 games played in Baton Rouge.

Kentucky Wildcats
Record: 16-9
Conference: 2-4, 6th SEC East
Non-Conf: 14-5
Home: 8-2
Away: 2-6
Neutral: 6-1

Team Overview:
It’s hard to miss a player more than Kentucky has and will miss AJ Reed. The 2014 Golden Spikes Award winner, Reed was a premier two-way player for the Wildcats leading the team in wins, ERA, batting average, home runs, and the list goes on. Factor in losing that guy along with your other 3 starting pitchers from a year ago, and Kentucky started the 2015 season with a lot of holes to fill. That’s the task Gary Henderson was faced with in his 7th season as the head coach in Lexington. Mix in some young players stepping up along with a few JUCO transfers, and Kentucky has gotten off to a nice 14-5 start in out-of-conference games. Kentucky’s team ERA of 4.29 is ranked 144th in the country while their .299 batting average ranks 35th.

Starting Pitching:
Friday night Kentucky will send out 6’3 righty Zack Brown. The sophomore from Indiana has already surpassed his inning total from his freshman season and developed into the Cats’ ace. Brown tossed a complete game, 2-hit shutout against Northern Kentucky a couple weeks ago. He allows less than 6 hits per 9 innings and boasts a nice 1.11 WHIP. Zack Brown features a fastball 89-92 mph and his main secondary pitch is a curveball in the low 80s. He will occasionally mix in 79-80 mph changeup. Jared Poché will face off against brown and looks to bounce back from the worst outing of his still young career.

Saturday night will be feature an outstanding matchup of righty handed arms – JUCO transfer Dustin Beggs against LSU freshman Alex Lange. Beggs was a 17th round pick in the MLB draft last year, but turned down the Cardinals for an opportunity to throw in the SEC. Beggs won’t overpower you with his upper 80s fastball, but he throws an array of pitches for strikes. His best offspeed pitch is the curveball at 77-79 mph. He also will come at a different angle with the 79-81 mph slider, then slow things down with a soft changeup.

Sunday, Jake Godfrey will face off against junior Kyle Cody. The big 6’7, 250lb righty was a Cape Cod League all-star last summer. He overpowers a lot of hitters with his fastball that has topped as high as 97, typically sitting in the 92-94 mph range. His best overall pitch is a plus slider, which shows flashes of big league potential and sits around 80mph. That slider is his strikeout pitch, but will mix in a changeup as well.

Relief Pitching:
Kentucky’s bullpen has been pretty bad this year, and they will be tested against this deep LSU lineup. Brad Schaenzer leades the team with his 2.12 ERA in 17 innings, and he is one of a few lefty options for Kentucky. Taylor Martin picked up the win on Wednesday in relief and has a team best 0.65 WHIP.

Kentucky Offense: (LSU)
Kentucky has two big game changers in the top third of their lineup. Ka’ai Tom leads the team with a .402 average ranking 8th in the SEC. He was first team All-SEC last year and is on pace to have an even better season as a sophomore. The other impact player is reigning SEC player of the week Kyle Barrett, who has the 4th most hits in the country. Barrett will be starting his 101st game for Kentucky and enters the weekend with a .391 average. Kentucky doesn’t pose much of a power threat as a group with just 10 HRs on the season ranking 2nd to last in the SEC. All but two guys in the projected starting lineup have at least 1 home run, but none has more than 2 individually.

On the bases, the Cats have successfully stolen 79% of the bases they attempt to steal, which ranks 4th in the SEC; however rank 9th in attempts. Ka’ai Tom and Kyle Barrett each have 6 stolen bases on the season and 20 in their careers. Storm Wilson has also swiped 6 bags on the season.

Defense:
Kentucky has been pretty bad defensively fielding .965 on the season. Middle infielders Heady and Shelby have combined for 18 errors, but the Cats have turned 25 double plays on the season. LSU has turned a league worst 14 double plays. Kentucky rotates 2 catchers – Greg Fettes and the above listed DH Zach Arnold. Fettes has caught just 2 of 14 base stealers, while Arnold has caught only 3 of 18. Those 5 caught stealers are the fewest amount by any team in the SEC.

Helpful Links
LSU Stats Galore
Kentucky Stats
Kentucky Roster
Kentucky Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Live Stats via LSUsports.net
WatchESPN for Online Viewing (login required)
FAQ: How to watch LSU Baseball games this season

*Reminder: follow me @AstroTiger5 on twitter for random stats throughout the season.

This post was edited on 3/27/15 at 10:23 am