In a college baseball season seemingly blown by us in rocket fashion, Kentucky has just three league series remaining before it begins postseason play.

The Wildcats will travel to Starkville, Miss. for an important three-game set with the Bulldogs this weekend before closing things out against Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.

Kentucky has won six of its last nine games -- including back-to-back series wins over Tennessee and South Carolina -- to push its record to 25-17 overall and 10-11 in the SEC. That has placed the Bat Cats in solid position for an NCAA bid if they can keep the momentum rolling.

Here are three areas to watch down the stretch this season that could help bolster UK's position:

STARTING PITCHING MOMENTUM:

Kentucky has quietly put together one of the better weekend rotations in the SEC this season. Nate Harris (4-2, 4.32), Nic McCay (4-0, 3.42), and Ben Cleaver (5-2, 2.83) have been fantastic. UK has held a lead in 20 of the 21 SEC games this season, and that trio is a big reason why. McCay had one of the best starting pitching performances in recent program history on April 19 when he held No. 2 Tennessee to just one run on two hits and three walks over 7.2 innings while striking out 12. That effort set the stage for Cleaver to follow with another strong performance that helped the Cats take two out of three from the Vols in Knoxville and change the trajectory of UK's season. They'll be tested this weekend against a Mississippi State team tied for third in the league in batting average (.305) and slugging at a .528 clip. Pitch efficiency will be big at this time of the season. The trio has done a nice job of going deeper into games than some of UK's starters in recent years, which has given head coach Nick Mingione more bullpen options. Pitching will dictate how far this team can go.

SITUATIONAL HITTING:

Kentucky enters the final three weeks of SEC regular-season play as one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league. Only Vandy, Mizzou, and South Carolina have scored fewer runs than the Cats. A big part of the reason is the lack of power through the lineup (UK is last in the SEC with 41 home runs), which means they have to manufacture runs and string together a lot of productive plate appearances to score. That can be a hard way to make a living in this league. Drawing walks, getting hit by pitches, bunting, and stealing bases have become a huge part of the Cats' arsenal, but they'll need to hit better with two outs (.241) and with runners in scoring position (.284) moving forward. Freshman shortstop Tyler Bell (.337) and senior third baseman Patrick Herrera (.323) are the only hitters in the lineup above the .300 mark. Everyone else resides at .266 or below. Two or three of the other seven guys need to get hot from here out.

SELF-INFLICTED MISCUES:

In many of the Cats' losses this season, they've been their own worst enemy. Kentucky is next to last in the league in strikeouts, they've had some issues executing bunts, and no one has made more outs on the basepaths than the Cats. Mingione is unapologetic about the latter. Kentucky's M.O. for several years has been to put extreme pressure on the defense to make plays -- these are college kids, after all, not polished professionals -- and it has worked to UK's advantage more often than not. But this lineup does not have as many reliable hitters as those in recent years, so giving away outs becomes magnified. They'll have to be cleaner with their execution down the stretch.