Kentucky
No. 24 SDSU Beats No. 25 Kentucky and UC Santa Barbara
SAN DIEGO – No. 24 San Diego State swept a pair of games on Saturday night at SDSU Softball Stadium, including a 2-1 victory over previously unbeaten and 25th-ranked Kentucky. The Aztecs (2-2) opened with a 2-1 win over the Wildcats (3-1) before beating UC Santa Barbara, 6-1, in the nightcap.
In the opener, Mac Barbara hit a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the third inning to put SDSU in the lead and Allie Light pitched four scoreless innings of relief to pick up her first win of the season.
UK, which has picked up two wins over No. 3/3 Stanford this weekend and another victory over Minnesota, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Eric Coffel doubled in Jenna Blanton. With no outs and two runners in scoring position. San Diego State freshman starting pitcher Cece Cellura got Peyton Plotts to line out to second base, where Micaela Macario almost tagged the runner on second for the double play. On the very next pitch, Rylea Smith flew out to shallow center field, where Macey Keester rifled a throw to catcher Cali Decker, who tagged Vanessa Nesby at the plate for the inning-ending double play.
The Aztecs responded in the bottom of the third as Katie Goldberg led off with a single to right field. It appeared Goldberg was going to be stranded at first base after Keester fouled out and Bella Espinoza lined out, both to Grace Lorsung at third base. Micaela Macario struck out swinging, but advanced to first on a passed ball. Goldberg and Macario each moved up a base on a wild pitch before Barbara ripped a 1-2 pitch to center field to give SDSU a lead it would not relinquish.
Light (1-0) entered in the fourth and worked around four hits and a walk over four innings, striking out three while stranding seven Kentucky runners. Cellura, pitching in her first career game and earning her first start, gave up one run on four hits and no walks over three innings, striking out one.
Light and Cellura stranded nine Wildcats in the game, and held Kentucky to just a 3-for-15 outing with runners on base and 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Barbara, Goldberg and Macario had San Diego State’s hits in the game, while Alyssa Garcia reached via walk.
In the nightcap, the Aztecs surpassed their run and hit total from the first three games of the season with six runs and 12 hits in a 6-1 win over the Gauchos (0-4).
Barbara homered, singled, had two RBIs, a run and a walk to pace the SDSU offense, while four others – Goldberg (2 RBI, SF), Keester (RBI, R), Macario (RBI, R, 3B) and AJ Murphy – added two hits apiece.
UCSB tied San Diego State with an infield single by Elicia Acosta in the bottom of the first but the Aztecs scored the final five runs of the game.
Garcia (1B, BB) and Angie Yellen (2-for-3, 2 R, BB) also reached twice for SDSU, which went 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position and 7-for-19 with runners on base.
Cellura gave up one run on two hits and no walks over two innings as the starter, striking out two. Dee Dee Hernandez pitched a scoreless four innings of relief, striking out four with three hits and no walks allowed. Hernandez got the win and is now 1-1 on the year. Cassidy West hit the first batter she faced in the seventh but retired the next three in order with two strikeouts.
THE NOTE
RHP Allie Light has pitched 12 1/3 scoreless innings this season with just nine hits allowed (.191 average).
THE NOTE II
In the nightcap, San Diego State outhit UC Santa Barbara, 12-5, making it 13 consecutive victories when outhitting its opponent.
STAT OF THE DAY
Despite playing games in the opening weekend against Stanford (No. 3 in last year’s final RPI), Minnesota (No. 28), Kentucky (No. 29) and UC Santa Barbara, the Aztec pitching staff went 2-2 with a 1.75 ERA in 28 innings, striking out 25 against three walks and limiting the opposition to a .263 average.
UP NEXT
SDSU plays at San Diego at 5 p.m. PT Wednesday.
Game 1: No. 24/rv San Diego State 2, No. 25/rv Kentucky 1
Kentucky (3-1) 001 000 0 — 1 8 0
San Diego State 002 000 x — 2 3 2
Langdon and Hamilton; Cellura, Light (4) and Decker
W – Light, 1-0; L – Langdon, 0-1
Game 2: No. 24/rv San Diego State 6, UC Santa Barbara 1
San Diego State (2-2) 110 211 0 — 6 12 0
UC Santa Barbara (0-4) 100 000 0 — 1 5 1
Cellura, Hernandez (3), West (7) and Decker, Garcia (4); Snyder, Stoll (4), McCoskey (5) and Donaldson
W – Hernandez, 1-1; L – Snyder, 0-2
HR: San Diego State, Barbara (1)
Other Saturday Scores at the San Diego State Season Kickoff
No. 25/rv Kentucky 3, No. 3/3 Stanford 2 (8 inn.)
No. 3/3 Stanford 3, Minnesota 0
Minnesota 4, UC Santa Barbara 3
Entering the weekend, Vanderbilt baseball had gotten swept in its only SEC series in which it hadn’t won the first game.
So the Commodores had a tough task in a series they badly needed after dropping the opener 5-2 on a walk-off grand slam after Vanderbilt’s best healthy starter, Connor Fennell, pitched well.
But the Commodores (24-17, 9-9 SEC) rebounded to take the series with an 8-7 win in the second game and a 13-6 win in the finale April 19. They did that despite not having any pitcher go more than three innings in either game. Though the pitching was still shaky at times — they issued more free passes than strikeouts in both of the wins — they worked out of enough jams to let the offense go to work.
Here’s what we learned from the series.
Will Hampton proves an unlikely hero for the offense
Vanderbilt got strong performances from a few of its typical top performers, including Braden Holcomb (6-for-13, four doubles) and Brodie Johnston (4-for-12, two home runs, three walks). But one of the biggest hits of the series came from the unlikeliest of sources.
Logan Johnstone was held out of the finale after colliding with Mike Mancini in Game 2, and in his place coach Tim Corbin opted to go with redshirt freshman Will Hampton in left field. Hampton had recorded just six college plate appearances, all of which were in nonconference games.
But Hampton reached in all three of his plate appearances against Kentucky, first on a single, then a walk. In the sixth inning, with the score tied, he came up with the bases loaded and two outs and blasted a grand slam, giving Vanderbilt its first lead.
Tyler Baird learns the ups and downs of being a closer
Freshman Tyler Baird has been Vanderbilt’s closer for the past three weeks, recording his first save April 2 against Texas A&M. But he learned the pitfalls that can come with that role in Game 1 against Kentucky. Summoned for an eight-out save with the Commodores leading 2-1, he retired the first five batters, but loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth. He struck out the next two batters but then gave up the walk-off grand slam.
Baird returned for Game 3, this time attempting a five-out save and coming in with runners on first and second and one out with a three-run lead in the eighth inning. He allowed both inherited runners to score, but kept the lead and then had a scoreless ninth inning after Vanderbilt scored three runs in the top of the inning.
Baird’s emergence has been key for the Commodores, and the Game 3 bounce-back was especially important.
Vanderbilt’s RPI shows improvement
On April 15, Vanderbilt was 95th in RPI, a mark that wasn’t going to cut it for NCAA Tournament selection. But with a road series win against a Kentucky team that started the week in the top 20 of RPI, the Commodores moved all the way up to 75th, according to Warren Nolan.
While Vanderbilt will need to keep moving up — a top-50 mark would be ideal — the series win did a lot. In the next two weeks, it will face two top-five RPI teams in Alabama and Texas, giving more opportunity to improve its standing.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
Power forward has been one of the positions that Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats have to fill with Andrija Jelavic and Mo Dioubate gone. The two players that Pope has had on campus at the power forward position are Syracuse’s Donnie Freeman and Colorado’s Sebastian Rancik. Both are really good players, but Freeman is better by a wide margin.
It has felt that entire time that Kentucky wanted Rancik as the backup to Freeman or a backup plan if they weren’t able to land Freeman. Well, Rancik just picked Florida State, so perhaps this is a sign that the Wildcats will land Freeman.
Big Blue Nation was torn on Rancik, but I do believe he would have been a really solid backup power forward. I personally didn’t want him to be the starting four for this team. It is clear that he wanted to go somewhere where he could be the guy at the four, so he will be heading to the ACC to play for FSU.
Now that Kentucky has missed on Rancik, it is very important that the Wildcats land Freeman soon. The problem with waiting on some of these players is the fact that the portal isn’t slowing down. If Pope targets two power forwards and misses on both of them, most of the good fours in the portal will be gone.
There will be some panic in Lexington if the Wildcats are not able to land Freeman, but I do believe the Wildcats are in a good spot to land the elite power forward. From the beginning, Freeman has been my top player for Kentucky in the portal, as he, plus Malachi Moreno, will give the Wildcats an elite frontcourt.
If Pope is able to land Freeman and Tyran Stokes to pair with Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Moreno, and Kam Williams, this could be the start of a really good team in Lexington. Hopefully, an announcement for where Freeman will transfer comes soon, and hopefully, this will be to play for Pope at Kentucky.
Fans of rival teams will say Pope “whiffed” on Rancik, but if this whiff was because the Wildcats are set to land Freeman soon, then it was more than worth it for Kentucky. If the Wildcats are able to land Freeman, it will officially be time for Big Blue Nation to start getting excited about the 2026-27 season. I expect a decision from Freeman to come within the next day or two.
Rancik would have been a solid backup four in Lexington but Freeman has been the guy from the beggining for this staff so if Kentucky lands him all is well. If the staff misses on Freeman not landing Rancik will look bad.
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Kentucky
Kentucky is poised to land either Donnie Freeman or Sebastian Rancik this weekend, per report
Jones posted on Twitter that “Kentucky will have (absent a major change) either Freeman or Rancik by tomorrow,” while also noting the Wildcats still need to add another shooter and another big to round out the roster.
One of the top targets is Donnie Freeman, a 6-foot-9, 205-pound sophomore forward transferring from Syracuse. Freeman arrived in Lexington on Tuesday night and began his visit on Wednesday before leaving without a commitment. While there was concern he could land at UConn, that visit has since been canceled, leaving Kentucky and St. John’s as the top teams.
Freeman averaged 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game last season, while adding nearly a block and a steal per contest. He shot 47.4% from the field but 30.2% from 3-point range across 23 games.
The other option is Sebastian Rancik, a 6-foot-11, 220-pound sophomore forward transferring from Colorado. Rancik visited Kentucky starting Wednesday through Thursday and brings a versatile skill set, averaging 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2 assists per game while shooting 33.1% from 3.
Either Freeman or Rancik would provide a significant boost at the power forward position for head coach Mark Pope. Kentucky has already added guards Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins in the portal.
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