On a beautiful afternoon in Lexington, Kentucky, the Kentucky Wildcats would welcome the 14th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners back to Kentucky Proud Park for a pivotal potential series-winning game for the Wildcats.

Needing to win two more games to clinch an at-large Regional position, Saturday against the Sooners was about as big as it comes for the Wildcats. A win over Oklahoma would give Kentucky a four-game buffer; with another one against the Sooners on Sunday and a three-game series against Vanderbilt next weekend, the Wildcats would need just one win out of the next four conference games to reach at-large status. Not to mention the seeding implications for the Southeastern Conference in Hoover in a week and a half.

Today, on the mound for the Sooners and Wildcats, their normal Saturday guys in Nic McCay for Kentucky and Cade Crossland for Oklahoma. Nic McCay gave the Kentucky Wildcats 5.2 innings, giving up six hits and five runs, walking three while striking out four Oklahoma batters. Due to an onslaught of offensive firepower from Kentucky, Cade Crossland gave the Sooners three complete innings before Head Coach Skip Johnson pulled the plug on his day, replacing him with Gavyn Jones. Crossland finished his day by giving up three hits, five runs, four walks, and only three strikeouts.

Like game one on Friday night, Oklahoma jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top half of the first, but it was short-lived. The Wildcats managed a four-run first inning and jumped 4-2 over Oklahoma at the end of the first inning. A ground out to second from Cole Hage would score Devin Burkes to make it 5-2 Kentucky through two innings. Scott Mudler gave the Sooners some life with a solo shot in the top of the 5th before Kentucky responded with three more runs in the bottom of the 5th to extend the lead to 8-3 over the Sooners. Oklahoma would plate two runs in the 6th to cut the Kentucky lead to 8-5.

With the win over the Sooners on Saturday, the Wildcats improve to 12-14 in Southeastern Conference play while taking a massive series over the 14th-ranked team in the country. An enormous series win for the Wildcats that positions them with another win in the next four conference games to make a return to Regional play where they’ll look to make another run at the College World Series for the second time in school history.

Kentucky will try to sweep 14th-ranked Oklahoma on Sunday. The first pitch will be at 1:00 Eastern on the SEC Network Plus.

Photo Credits- Kentucky Baseball on X