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Cats set for three-game series with Crimson Tide
By O. Jason Stapleton
Staff Writer
UK's baseball coach and players disagree as to the importance of this weekend's series against the 12th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.
Coach Keith Madison is downplaying the series against the Crimson Tide.
"When you play 30 (Southeastern Conference) games a year and when you're at the beginning of the SEC schedule, you don't want to put too much emphasis on it," Madison said.
He did recognize the toughness of his opponent however.
"Alabama, just like most other SEC team is highly ranked, very talented, and they're a team that made tremendous strides last year," Madison said. "They're tied for first place in the Western Division, so we know we've got a battle cut out for us."
The three-game set against Alabama, which will be played at Cliff Hagan Stadium, opens today with a 6 p.m. start.
UK's players view this as being an extremely critical series on the schedule.
"This is probably the biggest series for us getting back on a streak," said junior outfielder Jay Tedesco. "If we can take (tonight's game) it's gonna be a big boost for us, and hopefully everything else will roll off that."
Pitcher Adam Shadburne echoed Tedesco's sentiments.
"We've been on a pretty lousy streak," Shadburne said. "Naturally any SEC win we pick up will be great and if we can win two out of three or three out of three we're still right in the picture."
The Cats are coming off a heart-breaking loss in the ninth inning to Morehead State. How the team responds to the loss could very well determine the outcome of the rest of the season. Alabama, on the other hand, is coming off a big 2-0 win against state rival Auburn.
UK has a 5-7 record in the SEC, and is in a three-way tie for third in the SEC Eastern Division. This is especially crucial this year because the new SEC Tournament format only allows the top three teams in each division a berth in the tournament.
Alabama is led by catcher Dax Norris who hits for a team-high .413 average. The Crimson Tide also have a power-hitting second baseman in Joe Caruso. Caruso has seven home runs, already the most by an Alabama second baseman in a season.
The key for the Wildcats this weekend is pitching.
"If our pitching stays healthy through the weekend, I like our chances," Madison said. "It looks like we're going to start Shadburne Friday night, (Scott) Downs Saturday, and Sunday is still a question mark."
UK's pitching has been a mystery of late. Monday night at Western it gave up 17 runs only to throw a two-hit shutout the next night against Xavier.
Wednesday's 10-run game by Morehead did little to help the Cats' ERA.
Still, Shadburne is confident about the Cats chances against the highly-ranked Tide.
"We got nothing to lose," Shadburne said. "We just need to come out and have fun playing baseball, which is something we haven't been doing."
Photo: BOMBARDED UK's pitching staff has given up 27 runs this week to three opponents. File photo
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