Vicky Graff Photo
Any NCAA Tournament baseball regional is going to have a lot of storylines and intensity. However, the Lexington Regional this weekend has had a lot of unexpected storylines away from the field.
Because of a music festival and four high school sports having their state championship events this weekend in Lexington, hotel/motel rooms are hard to find and were way before Kentucky was named a regional host on Sunday.
I have friends who wanted to attend the state high school baseball tournament and had to make hotel reservations in Richmond over a month ago. Some others I know made reservations in Louisville.
Social media has had plenty of negative interaction from Indiana and West Virginia fans over the lack of hotel rooms in Lexington and the teams even being housed on the UK campus. However, those so-called dorm rooms on campus are actually suites that from all students have told me the past couple of years are way nicer than 90 percent of the hotel rooms in Lexington. Teams also don’t have to worry about traffic issues being housed so close to the field.
And get this — the Kentucky baseball team is staying on campus as well.
No way the NCAA should have penalized Kentucky for other events going on in Lexington this week and hotel rooms being scarce. Kentucky earned the right to host and get home-field advantage.
But I think coach Nick Mingione’s team also has gained a mental advantage with other teams worried about off-field matters. Kentucky is just worried about winning and advancing starting with Friday afternoon’s game with Ball State where I expect BBN to turn out in force to support the Cats.
