Sitting at a 20-14 (6-9 SEC) record with just under 20 games remaining in the regular season, it’s fair to say that Kentucky baseball must play every remaining game on its schedule like a playoff game; a must win.

Through 34 games this season, the Bat Cats have already played in 17 games that have been decided by two or less runs or went into extra innings.

You can look at the recent series’ against No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 2 Texas as examples. Kentucky went toe-to-toe with both of these squads, and frankly, should have left each of those series with more than one win to its name.

As the Wildcats hover around the top 40 mark in multiple rankings, it’s assumed that if they win a little more than half of their games, they’re almost an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. We’ve seen several SEC teams make the tournament before with just 13 confrence wins.

Kentucky has exactly 18 games remaining, 15 of those being conference matchups. This weekend, the Wildcats travel to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the No. 2 team in the nation, the Tennessee Volunteers.

Knocking off the defending National Champions at least once would be huge for Nick Mingione and company, earning Kentucky’s fifth victory of the season against a top 15 opponent.

“For us, it just keeps coming back to our ability to execute, said Mingione after the Wildcats walk-off win on April 15. “I just keep harping on these guys about is when we execute, and we do what we’re trained to do, we’ve had a lot of success…I have the belief in this team.”

Tonight, the first pitch against the Volunteers is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.

The Wildcats remaining conference schedule consists of:

April 18-20 @ No. 2 Tennessee

April 25-27 vs. South Carolina

May 2-4 @ Mississippi State

May 9-11 vs. No. 12 Oklahoma

May 15-17 @ No. 19 Vanderbilt

All rankings are provided from Baseball America.

On April 15, Georgia Tech transfer Tonie Morgan committed to Kentucky, the third transfer that Kenny Brooks has earned this offseason.

Almost as trademark as Cody Fueger’s “boom” posts, when you hear ‘Sicko Mode’ and see this video, you know Brooks just locked in another commit.

The two-time All-ACC guard averaged 13.7 points per game, 5.6 assists per game and 4.5 rebounds per game as a junior last season. Now a senior, Morgan brings even more leadership and depth to this Kentucky squad.

Leading Georgia Tech in assists and showcasing her playmaking skills all last season, it’s clear that Brooks has found his replacement for Georgia Amoore.

Morgan has huge shoes to fill, stepping up to be Kentucky’s floor general after the departure of one of the greatest to ever play, but that chapter is over and now this team needs a new identity.

Will she pull deep threes like Amoore? No, not necessarily, but she will get downhill, find shooters and take advantage of any defender that isn’t fast enough to keep up.

On April 17, the team announced that Morgan is officially a Wildcat, receiving high praise from Brooks himself.

“Tonie has demonstrated that she is one of the better point guards in the country and we are very fortunate that she will be in the Blue and White,” said Brooks.

What does the Big Blue Nation do over the summer? Well, in addition to speculating about lineups and scouting tickets for the next year’s final four, last year, the Kentucky faithful came together to cheer on LaFamilia.

If you’re unfamiliar with the name, LaFamilia is an alumni basketball team comprised of former Kentucky players, who play against other similar teams from adjacent programs. The competition takes place in “The Basketball Tournament” (TBT), an independent hoops league that has begun to bridge the gap between spring and fall basketball.

Last season, LaFamilia made headlines with a win over Louisville’s alumni team in the tournament; just like any other UK/UL rivalry game, no love was lost. Words were said, players shoved, and one player even spit at another in a particularly heated moment towards the end of the game… and he wasn’t wearing blue.

Anywho, that team, consisting of the likes of Willie Cauley-Stein, Andrew Harrison, Nate Sestina and more, electrified Kentucky fans who had nothing better to do and, despite coming up short of the TBT title, turned all eyes to the next time they’d take the floor.

The first two players confirmed for this year’s LaFamilia unit were Doron Lamb, former sharpshooter and crucial member of the 2012 national championship team and DeAndre Liggins, who was a Wildcat from 2008-11′. The announcement went up today on the LaFamilia X (Twitter).

With the summer season drawing closer, these two Wildcats are likely the first in a string of additional alumni set to join the roster soon. Once a ‘Cat, always a ‘Cat.