Kentucky jumps Tennessee baseball ahead of weekend series

Tennessee baseball is set to travel to Lexington, Kentucky, this weekend to take on the No. 3 Wildcats. The Cats jumped the Vols in this week's D1Baseball rankings as the Vols sit at No. 4 after going 4-0 last week.

The top four of the D1Baseball rankings are all SEC. Texas A&M jumps to the top spot with a 32-4 record and went 4-0 last week, or more importantly, because Arkansas went 3-2 last week. The Razorbacks fall to No. 2 in the rankings, and Kentucky and Tennessee round out the SEC teams in the top five. Oregon State stays at No. 5 at 29-5 on the season.

Kentucky went 3-1 last week, including a weekend sweep over Auburn, one of the worst teams in the conference. They improved to 30-5 on the season and 14-1 in conference play. The Cats have been the hottest team in the conference and firmly sit in first place in the East.

The Vols aren't too far behind with a 30-6 record. Where the Vols and Cats are separated is the conference record. The Vols are 10-5 in conference play so far this season. Tennessee improved its SEC record by three games with a sweep against the defending national champion LSU Tigers over the weekend.

Tennessee's bats have been headlining the Vols' season, but it took a strong pitching performance by the Vols pitchers to get the sweep this weekend. The Cats bats have also been hot this year, scoring 294 runs as we are halfway through the SEC schedule. While that's impressive, the Vols have scored 370 runs so far this year.

Kentucky and Tennessee are officially a top-five matchup and will take place this weekend as Kentucky looks to build its lead on the rest of the SEC East, and Tennessee looks to slow down Kentucky's hot bats. All three games will be on SEC Network+ starting on Saturday. You can see where to watch every Tennessee baseball game this month here.