UK Athletics Photo
Kentucky didn’t have to beat Arkansas Thursday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Hoover, Ala., to host a NCAA regional next week or probably even host a super regional if it gets that far.
However, after losing 11-0 and getting only one hit against LSU Wednesday, it still had to help UK’s confidence that it bolted to a 6-0 lead over Arkansas and held on for a 9-6 win over one of the nation’s best teams that can only help solidify an elite seed for the Cats in the NCAA Tournament.
Starting pitcher Trey Pooser was exceptional. He allowed three hits and no runs in five innings. He walked only one Arkansas hitter and struck out three.
“Thought Trey Pooser was fantastic. Those of you that followed us all year, I’ve continued to say that for us to be the team that we want to be, we have to pitch and defend at a very high level. Trey did great,” Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said after the win.
Pooser admitted shutting down Arkansas adds to his confidence going into NCAA play next week
“Obviously gives us a chance to keep moving on and go throughout the tournament. But just going into next week, just having that solid outing behind me and knowing that, having that confidence to go in there and pitch the same way, if better,” Pooser said after the game.
Mingione said on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports Talk that he was going to carefully manage his pitching staff this week to make sure no one had a tired arm going into NCAA play. That led to taking Pooser out after five innings.
“We made that decision in the middle of the game with Trey. He was at 76 pitches. If we chose to run him back out the score was 6-0, you know, on an average, you’re going to throw anywhere between 16 and 20, 25 pitches in an inning,” Mingione said.
“So we made the decision, okay, if we do that, what we’re saying is we’re going to run him up there to over a hundred pitches. And we weren’t willing to do that. Sure, was the game 6-0? Yes, it was. Was it in a good spot? But ultimately, we do have to manage that in the right way.
“And I thought that’s what they (Arkansas) did with (starting pitcher) Hagen Smith as well. They find ways to chip away his innings and just to keep him down because they know just as well as I do that we need these guys to throw well next week and the week after and then two more weeks in Omaha (for the College World Series) to do what we want to do.
“So it is absolutely in the back of our minds. And we do have to be smart about how we go about it. And it’s why we did Hogan and we extended him out to three innings and we built him up. Same thing with Ryan Hagenow. He was able to get two-plus innings and build his pitch count up, but with all the thought in mind that we are trying to win this, but then also to try to protect him and position ourselves to be good next week as well.”
