Kentucky clubs Vandy in series opener, closes in on SEC baseball title

The University of Kentucky baseball team entered Friday needing one victory to clinch the school’s second-ever Southeastern Conference regular season championship.

The Wildcats were to host Vanderbilt for Senior Night at 6:30 p.m. Friday — weather permitting — in the second game of a three-game series to conclude the regular season at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington.

Kentucky positioned itself for the clinch by beating the Commodores 10-5 on Thursday night, recording its school-record 21st SEC win this season.

The Wildcats (38-11 overall, 21-7 SEC) entered Friday with a one-game lead over Tennessee (44-10, 20-8) in the SEC East Division, with both teams vying for the league’s best regular season record and the No. 1 seed in next week’s conference tournament at Hoover, Alabama. The Volunteers kept pace by beating South Carolina 9-3 in Knoxville on Thursday night.

Ryan Waldschmidt hit his 10th home run of the season and Nick Lopez his sixth to fuel a 10-hit Kentucky attack Thursday night. Waldschmidt had three hits, and Lopez, Devin Burkes and Mitchell Daly had two each as UK broke the SEC wins record it set in 2006.

Trey Pooser (4-1) earned the victory on the mound, allowing four runs on four hits and striking out four in five innings.