Counting on a stable of sophomores to determine your season sounds like a lot of pressure for a group of 19- and 20-year-olds.

But this isn't your typical sophomore class.

A season ago, with the Cats decimated by injuries and the graduations of All-Americans Sawyer Carroll and Colin Cowgill, freshmen like Andy Burns, Chad Wright, Cory Farris, Braden Kapteyn and Alex Meyer were thrown into the fire almost immediately and leaned on to carry UK's 2009 season.

Freshmen, well, are freshmen, and last year's class was no different.

At times they sparkled. Wright was second on the club in batting average at .343; Meyer, one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, tossed 80 strikeouts, handling the national spotlight of being a potential top draft pick about as well as anyone could have expected; Kapteyn emerged as a budding two-way player and grabbed hold of the closer spot by season's end; and Burns and Farris cemented starting roles as the season progressed.

But counting on freshmen to win in the rugged Southeastern Conference, quite arguably the toughest league in the nation, was like dangling a blood in front of a shark.

"Everybody knows it's one of the best leagues in the country, but until you actually play in it you don't understand it doesn't get any better than that," Burns said. "The competition is the best there is."

Because of injuries, Henderson had little choice but to play his prized freshmen. Still it was like handing the keys of a Mercedes to a 16-year-old getting ready to drive in the Daytona 500. The Cats had little chance.

And yet by season's end, thanks to breakthrough performances in both the batter's box and on the pitcher's mound, UK was in it until the final day of the season, just narrowly missing out on the postseason with a heartbreaking loss to Florida.

Burns said coming up short left a "bitter taste" in the mouth of the young stars, but it was a great learning experience for the class of potential stars.

"To win the SEC you've got to play older than what you are," Burns said. "You can't play like a bunch of freshmen, which is what we did for a while last year. We finally started to figure it out a little bit towards the end. It wasn't quite enough to make it in the SEC, but it's something we're building off for this year."

With a year of experience under their belts, the possibilities are endless for this year's sophomore class and 2010 baseball season. In today's world of college athletics, last year's freshmen are this year's seniors.

"They are going to be extremely important," Henderson said. "You start talking about whether it's the top of the order or where they are defensively.  You've got Chad Wright, Andy Burns, Braden Kapetyn, Cory Farris - it's a big class and a considerable chunk of our club.  They need to perform well and I think that they will."

A lot of them will be counted on heavily early in the season, particularly Meyer.

With the playing status of James Paxton still very much up in the air, Meyer will assume the role as the club's ace, a role he was born to play as a longtime Kentucky fan and candidate for the No. 1 overall selection in the 2011 MLB Draft.

After weathering a season in the national spotlight - Meyer often pitched in front of dozens of professional scouts last year - he has harnessed his game, strengthened his frame (Henderson said he's added about 20 pounds of muscle) and realized what it takes to win at the college level.

"He's much calmer, more relaxed and has become stronger," Henderson said. "His delivery has really benefited from the increased strength and he controls his body on the mound much better at this point. He has a better idea of what to expect in the conference and I think he's going to be a much better pitcher."

Although Henderson isn't quite sure exactly what role Kapteyn will serve on the pitching staff yet, he will almost certainly serve as the team's most dynamic two-way player. As an emergency closer a season ago, he notched four saves while batting .319 with 27 RBI at the plate.

Henderson expects him to add experience to the bullpen and offer a potential everyday starter at first base or designated hitter, at the very least.

Offensively, the sophomores will be counted on immensely to carry the Cats (Henderson hopes UK's power numbers will return to the 2008 and 2006 levels). With the exception of Chris Bisson's breakthrough season, Chris Wade's bat and the veteran plate appearances Marcus Nidiffer provided, UK didn't have much at the dish other than its freshmen.

Four first-year players alone - Wright, Burns, Kapteyn and Farris - carried UK offensively last year. Those four accounted for 31.5 percent of UK's runs and 29.5 percent of the RBI. Remember, 19 players saw the batter's box last season.

Wright, the brother of former player Brock Wright, was the biggest producer of the four, hitting a robust .343 at the dish with 40 runs scored, 23 RBI and four home runs. A much-overlooked and underrated prospect out of Heath High School in Paducah, Ky., said that while last year's success came as a bit of a surprise, it will go a long ways in building this year's success.

"We've got a year of experience under our belt which is the biggest thing you could ask for," Wright said. "We're going to know what to expect. We have a lot of talent. For us to put our talent and mental game on the same level is just going to excel that process and excel us to better players."

Burns couldn't agree more. As a freshman a year ago, Burns could remember dealing with the anxiety of collegiate baseball early in the season. As a result, he struggled to find the Mendoza Line in the first few weeks.

Once he got acclimated to big-time baseball and started taking it one pitch at a time, he blossomed. By the end of the season, he was Kentucky's starter at third base.

"The more you play the more comfortable you get," said Burns, while also admitting that it took the entire team time to adjust to the new coaching style of first-year coach Henderson. "I remember last year our first game at LSU, I just had butterflies going everywhere. Then you look at the last game against Florida and I'm relaxed, not trying to do too much. That's how you have to play to be successful."

The same could be said for just about every freshman last year. Now as sophomores, they're more experienced and more confident. The only thing stopping that could halt them in a potential sophomore slump would be contentment.  

"The job that we have as coaches is to make sure that they know they have not arrived yet," Henderson said. "A little bit of success as a freshman, a good summer and a good fall is not the same as getting it done in the SEC. Our kids understand that and they are eager to prove that they are ready."

They might only be sophomores, but after tasting one season of college baseball, they're ready for their big splash.

"We're trying to win championships whether it's SEC, Regional or Super Regional and even into Omaha," Burns said. "That's the goal, that's the dream."

The Cats depart from Lexington on Thursday for their season-opening tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C. UK will face Virginia Tech at noon on Friday in the Caravelle Resort Tournament. As long as the Internet cooperates, Cat Scratches assistant Evan Crane will be blogging from Myrtle Beach with the team.