UK Undaunted by Tall Task Ahead

Nick Mingione is an unfailingly positive, uplifting presence as Kentucky baseball head coach.

So it should come as no surprise he stayed true to his nature even after his Wildcats suffered a 5-4 loss to North Carolina State to put them within a single defeat of their season’s end.

“Our guys did some really good things tonight, but obviously not enough to win,” Mingione said.

The Cats struck first as the away team in their second game of the Lexington Regional, but the Wolfpack answered UK’s one first-inning run with back-to-back homers off Justin Lewis to claim a 2-1 lead. Kentucky would tie it in the third, but North Carolina State scored three in fifth and held on for the win behind a heroic effort from Sean Adler, who pitched 7.2 innings in relief after saving the Wolfpack’s 12-inning win over Indiana on Friday night.

UK certainly didn’t lack for opportunities, as the Cats stranded nine runners and five were left in scoring position. That came on the heels of a Friday win over Ohio in which UK stranded 15.

“I feel like we’ve had some decent at-bats with guys on base,” said Evan White, who belted a ninth-inning home run to cut the deficit to one. “Some things haven’t fallen our way. That’s part of the game and we just gotta keep putting good at-bats together and hopefully some of those are going to start to fall.”

The sooner the better on that front, because UK now must win three straight games in two days to advance to super regionals. It’s a stiff challenge, to be sure, but not one the Cats are going to shy away from.

“I’ve been a part of this before,” Mingione said. “Our coaching staff has been a part of this before and I just basically told them that nothing in this game in the postseason is ever going to come easy. It’s not supposed to come easy. I told them, ‘When we get this done, it’s going to be even that much sweeter.’ “

The Cats are following Mingione’s lead in terms of optimism and confidence, just as they have all season. Helping on that front is the fact that the magnitude of the task ahead isn’t likely to faze them.

“Obviously it’s postseason time and we’re playing for our lives right now,” White said. “All we gotta do is do less. In those big situations, big games, take one pitch at a time and make sure you’re breathing and stuff like that. We’re going to be all right.”

Ever since he arrived a year ago, Mingione has been working to prepare his team for moments like these. Ironically, he’s done that with an unwavering focus on the moment at hand and nothing more. 

“That’s one of the strengths of our team is we haven’t looked down the road,” Mingione said. “And you know what? We’ve wired them that way from the very beginning. From the very, very beginning that’s exactly how we’ve had them approach it because when you get to this time of year, that’s how you gotta be. You can’t be looking ahead. “

So, before UK can take on North Carolina State again in Sunday evening’s regional final, the Cats have to get past Indiana. The Hoosiers bested Ohio, 11-2, and UK has seen them before. Kentucky won that game behind an electric effort by Zack Thompson, who has allowed just two runs in his last 23.1 innings. Mingione expects to call on the freshman lefthander to start again at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

He also expects a crowd similar to the Cliff Hagan Stadium-record 4,742 fans in attendance on Saturday night.

“Can’t thank the Big Blue Nation enough for coming out, setting an attendance record,” Mingione said. “Really proud for them to show up and we’re basically going to tell them all right now that we need them to back tomorrow for two games and stand behind these guys. Because they deserve it.”