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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Coming off the program’s second-ever Super Regional appearance a season ago, the Kentucky Baseball program kicks off its 2024 campaign against USC Upstate on Friday, February 16 at 3 p.m. ET. The Wildcats and the Spartans will be playing a three-game series to open the season, with games on Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) closing the opening weekend of play.
Kentucky, who is receiving votes in three national polls, is looking to build off a historic 2023 season on the backs of a solid core of returning players and an impressive class of freshmen and transfers. Preseason laurels have flooded to the Cats’ battery, as starting catcher, and 2023 Lexington Regional Most Outstanding Player, Devin Burkes, was named Preseason-All SEC, while projected weekend starting pitchers, Dominic Niman (1st Team) and Mason Moore (3rd Team) have been named Preseason-All Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Also returning for Kentucky is the middle infield duo of Émilien Pitre and Grant Smith, who guided the Cats to the nation’s top fielding percentage in 2023.
Travis Smith is slated to be the opening day starter for Kentucky, as the top-100 draft prospect (MLB.com) looks to build on a solid freshman campaign. Niman is scheduled to get the ball on Saturday, where the lefty transfer from Central Connecticut State should make his Wildcat debut. Moore, a Morehead, Ky. native, is penciled in to close out the weekend, as he transitions into a starting role this season.
USC Upstate, the preseason favorites out of the Big South, is one of the winningest teams in the nation over the past three seasons, racking up 110 victories since 2021. The Spartans are led by a league-leading seven preseason all-conference selections, headlined by all three weekend starters and 2023 first teamer Grant Sherrod. USC Upstate finished as the 2023 Big South runners-up, falling one game short of the league’s automatic qualifier when they fell to Campbell, a 2023 national seed, in the tournament championship.
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