Holding on for a narrow 4-3 win, the UK baseball team advances and lives for another day. Greg Dumbroski gets the win with a little help from his offense. Andrew Albers gets a FOUR-INNING save. Wow.

And the bullpen was sort-of saved, with only two pitchers used.

Of course, this win came just four hours after UK finished it’s first game of the regional, a 7-5 loss to Michigan.

Now UK can have some much needed rest and will face the loser of the Arizona/Michigan game later tonight at 2 p.m. tomorrow for another elimination game.

Put simply, the Cats will have their backs against the wall until they win the regional or lose.

Records Watch: UK is two wins away from breaking the single-season school record for wins, which is 44 set in 2006. The Cats also needs six more runs to break the school record of 500 scored runs in a season, also set in 2006.

I guess UK Athletics wanted to sneak one in on a day where everyone is focused on the baseball team in Michigan.

But the official word that Jasper has seeked his release dropped about an hour ago. Well wishes Derrick, because I’m afraid everything that could have been said has been said.

No use in wasting thoughts, time and words on someone who has left. You did well and thanks for your time as a Wildcat. Good luck elsewhere.

And now, back to something I actually care about, UK baseball’s elimination game.

It was a weird situation, an 11 a.m. start in the bottom of the fifth of the game the night before. But UK baseball made it interesting before failing 7-5 to Michigan today.

UK gave up a run each in the fifth and sixth, in what proved to be the winning runs for the Wolverines. UK had a chance to break things wide open in the sixth, but failed to produce a big inning that would come in the top of the eighth. UK scored four runs in that inning to put pressure on Michigan.

And I have to admit, listening to this baseball game made me as pumped about a baseball game that I’ve been in a while. The Cats just couldn’t pull it out.

Now UK faces Eastern Michigan, who they beat twice already this season, in just over an hour. The loser goes home, the winner faces the loser of the Arizona/Michigan game later on tonight.

If I’m head coach John Cohen, I feel good about the hot bats that came along in the late innings of the first game having the possibility of still being warm when UK plays again at 2 p.m. I don’t feel good about using three pitchers and being against the wall now.

EMU is a slugging team, but the pitching is awful. If UK can keep the bats hot and locate some good pitches, they might be able to stay alive for one more day!

Because it’s TGIF and that usually means time to watch sports for me, I’d figured I’d share the wealth of Wildcat viewing tonight.

First off, the UK baseball team plays at 7 p.m. in Ann Arbor. Sadly, this isn’t on TV (to my knowledge), but you can always follow online with the live stats or the live audio from the Big Blue Sports Network. Or you can flip the good old radio dial if you prefer.

And while you listen to the Bat Cats, flip on the tube! Rajon Rondo and the Celtics look to close the door on Tayshaun Prince and the Pistons in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, around the same time tonight.

Rajon, Tayshaun and baseball? What a Big Blue Friday Night.

If you followed the ongoing meetings of SEC coaches down in Destin, Florida this week then you know that the new thing to hit the recruiting business is web cam chats.

Nick Saban does it and Phil Fulmer admitted to doing it too. Word on the street is that they aren’t the only two doing it.

Just a warning to the SEC coaches - if a recruit asks for a credit card number, you’re in over your head.

But, no worries! Thanks to Third Saturday in Blogtober (how creative!), still shots from many SEC (and maybe ACC too?) coaches’ web cams are now accessible to the public of the Internet.

This could be a disturbing trend.

I saw this idea on John Clay’s blog yesterday and I figured I’d run with it, like I’ve seen a lot of other people doing.

The thought is this: Who is Mitch Barnhart’s Best Hire?

Clay gives a good list too: Rich Brooks, John Cohen, Mickie DeMoss, Craig Skinner and Billy Gillispie.

But if you want to know the best hire of them all, that’s easy. It’s John Cohen. Second place is a three-way tie between Brooks, DeMoss and Skinner. Gillispie gets last almost as a default, even though he worked a magical conference season.

But I think Cohen steals the show. Before Cohen showed up, you could have taken the top 10 high school teams in the state and beat the UK team. No joke. Cohen has openly said that one of their biggest problems in that first year was relaying signals because the players were too busy chatting up opponents. Wow.

And look at UK baseball now - SEC champion in 2006, regional host in 2006, a return to a regional this year, the expectation of winning a regional, and pretty soon a new baseball stadium.

And that’s what puts Cohen for UK baseball on top as the best hire. Yes, Rich Brooks has navigated from NCAA sanctions to back-to-back bowls and competitive seasons, but not too far before Brooks came Hal Mumme and Guy Morriss had the hopes of UK fans high as well. Good players were coming in and UK was winning games.

Mickie DeMoss immediately turned around the UK women’s basketball team, but left too early to actually grab a top spot, sorry.

Skinner, the volleyball coach, can challenge the top spot the most. He took the doormat of the SEC and has them contending for SEC titles. Back-to-back-to-back NCAA tournaments is a new standard for the volleyball program. Consider Skinner as the Cohen of the women’s side of UK Athletics.

And Gillispie has the potential, but I’m working with the present here. Cohen wins against all. And tonight, when UK baseball takes the field in Ann Arbor against Michigan at 7 p.m., hopefully John Cohen doesn’t make me look like a fool.

But when it comes down to it, Mitch Barnhart has a hiring touch. People in this state use to comment about Louisville AD Tom Jurich as a great hiring AD. I think Mitch Barnhart is telling Jurich to take some notes.

One year after SEC football coaches struck down the thought of an early signing day, they reversed course and voted 9-3 to install such a day. Irony!

The three “against” votes were from Arkansas’s Bobby Petrino (snake!) Florida’s Urban Meyer and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier (snake!). Sorry boys, you’re outnumbered! Give it up!.

The vote doesn’t exactly immediately install such a day. League AD’s and school presidents have to vote for it and then the SEC has to lobby for it nationally (and no offense, but that national lobby for a plus-one didn’t work so well…).

Here’s the little pretty details–the day would normally be during the week of Thanksgiving, right before the start of the contact period. SEC coaches view it as a time where kids who absolutely know they are going to a certain school can commit and coaches don’t have to worry about “baby-sitting” them until February signing day, making check-up, maintenance calls to these recruits instead of aggressive, recruiting ones to others. Also, any recruit who takes an official visit to any school COULD NOT sign during this early period. They would be forced to sign in Feb. Unofficial visits do not apply.

And hey, why not for this rule? It sounds good to me. Example, people knew E.J. Fields was coming to UK early last season. Under this new early signing day, he would have been signed in November and Brooks wouldn’t have had to call Fields anymore and battle other programs attempting to sway him, instead focusing more time on other prospects. This could also help cut down (although not much) on players who pull signing day switcharoos.

Sounds like a good idea to me, now let’s just pass this through to the top! Turkey and Letters of Intent seem like the perfect Thanksgiving to me.