By Derek Terry
Fresh off its first SEC series sweep in three seasons, UK baseball will need to lean on its offense to avoid a let down on Tuesday against a struggling Xavier team.
The Cats rank fourth in the SEC in hitting with an average of .300 through 38 games under first-year hitting coach Rick Eckstein.
One of the big reasons the Cats are ranked so high offensively is because of centerfielder Kyle Barrett. The junior lefty is batting .370 on the season, but is hitting .392 through 17 league games. His 61 hits on the season is also good for second place overall in the conference, leaving him just four hits behind league- leader Anfernee Grier of Auburn.