You don’t need Kentucky baseball head coach Nick Mingione to tell you just how important tonight’s game against No. 9 seed Alabama is for the No. 8 seed Bat Cats to open the SEC Tournament. But he’s going to tell you anyway. It’s simply that big for the program’s chances not only to host a regional in Lexington, but earn a top-eight national seed for a chance to host a super regional.
16 teams are given ‘national seeds,’ but the top eight automatically host a super regional if they advance past the regional. And entering the SEC Tournament, Kentucky sits at No.