Kentucky Baseball Advances to Super Regional this Weekend (W/ Photos)

There was nothing easy but Kentucky did what it took to beat Indiana 4-2 at Kentucky Proud Park Monday night and now advance to the Super Regional at LSU this weekend.

Kentucky has to beat both West Virginia and Indiana Sunday to set up Monday night’s showdown with the Hoosiers.

Here is part of what coach Nick Mingione said after a record 6,797 fans watched the Cats advance to the Super Regional for the first time since 2017.

Q. You got your dogpile that you’ve talked about before, (indiscernible) momentum to 2017, a long time ago. It was the same road as 2017 winning three in a row. Just how poetic is that?

COACH MINGIONE: That’s my favorite thing to do as a coach. This team was built a long time ago. When you think about recruiting in baseball, guys commit when they’re freshmen in high school, and sophomores. And to have all those guys come through and deliver in that moment and watch them celebrate, it doesn’t get any better as a coach because they’re the ones that have made the pitches. They’re the ones that have made the plays. They are the ones that went to the workouts. They’re the ones that went to class. They’re the ones that do it.

And when you get a chance to just see pure joy, it’s one of the best feelings as a coach. That’s the only thing you could ever hope for on a field is to watch your team celebrate. And I was soaking it in. And I was loving every second of it.

Q. What do you feel like you learned about your guys this weekend that maybe you didn’t see in the conference tournament or even late in the season? What did they reveal about their resilience or just knowledge of the game?

COACH MINGIONE: Well, I don’t know if this is something that I learned about them because I knew after the fall that we had a team that could compete for a championship. The thing that I’m super thankful for — and you heard them talking about throwing up Evan Byers. And I’m thankful that they got to a spot that they could let loose and just play free. Because we’re talented enough.

But the fact that they could just take a deep breath and just — sometimes you’ve got to stop caring so much, to where it’s like it doesn’t constrict you.

And Mr. Barnhart’s message about a month ago, about taking off the shackles and going for it. We’re going for it. Towards the end of the year we were pressing some at times but we did not press. They just kind of let loose and they went for it. So I was thankful that they were able to do that.

Q. Darren was able to get out of that bases loaded, nobody-out jam only allowing one. And Mason had the second and third, one out, didn’t give up anything. Just the jobs they were able to do in those two innings specifically?

COACH MINGIONE: When you sit there and you think about anytime you can have the bases loaded and no outs and you only give up one run that is a victory for the defense. And they had another time they got third base, no outs and didn’t score.

So our ability to minimize — Darren, he’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, won’t you? We’re at UT a couple weeks ago, it’s like, man, he’ll keep you on there.

But he gave us everything he had. What a warrior. What a warrior Darren Williams is. And Mason was fantastic.

Q. What about Devin makes him thrive in these situations (indiscernible) just the way he played all weekend?

COACH MINGIONE: He’s a warrior. I’ve got to tell you something about Devin Burkes. At the end of the fall we do meetings at the beginning and at the end of every fall. And sometimes in the middle.

But we basically explained to him that he had won the catching job and that we would still catch two catchers. We would want him to be fresh for late in the year. Hey, look, there’s a chance you could lose that job, but as of today — and one thing we asked him to do, hey, when we come back in the spring, Devin, I think it would be a really good idea for you to just swing by and pop in the offices every day just to say hi.

If there’s anything, you’re going to help Coach Roszel lead the pitching staff. If there’s something he needs to share with you or whatever, it’s totally up to you, you don’t have to. But if you choose you should pop by, totally up to you.

That guy’s come by our office every day. Every day that guy comes in and I hear him at the end of the hallway and he lights up the office with his, hey, what’s up? It’s, like, Coach, what’s up? Hey, Brock, Coach, what’s up?

And I’m like, all right he’s coming down. He makes his way. He stops at all the offices and he stops in my office and we spend time together every day. I’ve learned so much about him. Personally this guy, shhwew, this guy is different. Whew, even brought his mom by the office today. He literally brought his mom by the office today.

This guy is a winner and he cares and he wants to win. And, whew, he’s a special dude, a very special dude.

Q. Pitching staff, you had the 26 runs yesterday, but for the whole Regional you had two shutouts, you gave up just two runs tonight. Did you feel going into this season that you had this kind of staff?

COACH MINGIONE: We knew the strength of our staff was going to be the depth. And I kept getting those questions from a lot of you in February. And then we got into the couple weeks of March, and by the time we started up opening up SEC play it dawned on me that this was as deep a pitching staff as I’ve had here. That’s saying a lot because we’ve had a lot of really good arms.

So the depth of our pitching staff is definitely one of our strengths. There’s no way you come out of the losers’ bracket and to put up those few of runs, and you’re only going to do that with a really good defense. But our pitchers — Coach Roszel is a premier coach, everywhere he’s been. You go back, look at his track record.

He’s put together some really good staffs. You even heard Darren mention his name afterwards because of all the time and effort that he’s poured into our guys. It was definitely a good thing.

Q. Going back to Devin, he caught five games in this Regional, the last two days, hottest days of the year, and still produce like that with the bat, talk about doing that in these conditions.

COACH MINGIONE: It’s unreal. So towards the end of the year, they were in a stretch where he wasn’t getting as many hits. He wasn’t doing as well. And I had some people in my ear about, hey, I think Devin’s wearing down, he’s getting tired and these kind of things.

So you guys might laugh at this, but I said, Devo, one of his days in my office — I was, like, Dev, I got a bunch of people in my ear telling me that you’re tired. Like, I don’t know, like, you ain’t hitting as good. What do you want me to tell these people? Because I can’t tell you how many people are telling me this.

He goes, you tell them that a tired catcher don’t steal bases. I stole four bases last week. Do you think my legs are tired? Yes, sir, I’ll tell them. (Laughs).

He’s like this guy — and I went up to him yesterday. I said, hey, you’re going to have to catch 18 innings. Devin, I want you to know I told our staff you’re from the state of Florida, you’ve played in a lot of double-headers, and I have total peace you’re going to dominate this. You’re going to take care of your body. I asked him about his hydration. I said, I just want you to know ahead of time, you are going to do awesome today. You’ve done this your whole life. This is no different. He’s like, Coach, I got this, I’m built for this. I said, you are, get ready. I’m coming, Coach, I’m coming.

Q. Just the fact that second Super Regional for Kentucky in history, you’ve been with both of them, has that sunk in yet? If not, when do you think it will. And you (indiscernible) 2017 what you guys did, winning the first game, losing the second game, winning three straight. Are there any parallels you see between those two clubs?

COACH MINGIONE: Let me answer the first one. Coach Madison, will you come up here, please? When I showed up in 2017, this man asked me — he said, Nick, if there’s ever anything I can do for you, will you please let me know, I’ll do whatever. And I said, Coach, you coached here 25 years. Nobody knows Kentucky baseball better than you. He said, Nick, I want to help. I want to serve, I’ll do whatever.

I said, Coach, what do you think about, like, doing a staff bible study? And he says, I’ll do it. And in 2016, it was the fall, he’s been leading our coaches in a bible study every week for seven years. And I’ll never forget this. And that very first time we ever met, in ’17, he told me — he said, Nick, if you do this, I’ll guarantee you you’ll have a great year.

I’m a first-time head coach. I’ve never been a head coach at any level. I’ve never been a T-ball head coach, a high school head coach, a summer ball head coach — Mitch Barnhart gave me an opportunity of a lifetime. And I perked up. I said, what do I have to do? Coach, I’m all ears.

He said, you have to do three things, Nick. He said, you have to pray for your players every day. You have to pray for your staff and you have to pray for your players’ parents.

If you do that, I guarantee you, you will have a great year. And I’ve done my best job to try to do that. And we’ve had good years. We’ve had some years — we had one really, really bad year, record-wise.

But we’ve been really close. Two out of three years we’ve been one or two games short. And the parallels — we have a group of people that have prayed. I’ve got a list of people here. I believe in the power of prayer.

My wife has prayed for seven straight years. Her sisters at BSF and her prayer warriors, they pray. Mitch, Connie, Coach, Miss Sharon, Mac, Kirby, Aaron, Jason, Ryan, Matt, KG, Nathaniel, Austin, Mimi, Chris, Glen, Bo, Clayton, Nicki, Jim, Matt, Rick, Matt, Joy, Jason, Sean, Eddie.

He told me last year, he said, all right, Nick, here’s what you need to do. You need to find seven people to pray for you and your program and your players every day. And I made my rounds and I called people.

So the parallels is God has had his hands all over this. Two tough teams that want to do everything they can for Kentucky. And, Coach, I could not do this without you.

Thank you. Give it up for Coach Madison for 25 years. He deserves this.

He’s been doing this for seven years, he’s been keeping me straight.

Q. Mason his performance this weekend has to be one of the gutsiest performances in a long time. What can you say about what he put together?

COACH MINGIONE: He’s special. And if you were to go back and look at our season, he’s right in the middle of a lot of our wins. And he’s super talented. The bowling ball is exactly what it’s like trying to hit it.

He throws it to both sides of the plate. All he’s done is get better since he’s been here. We talked about him on Friday night. It seems like every week, every day, he just keeps getting better.

He’s an unbelievable athlete. I told you guys about that about him, like dunking, doing everything, whew. And I’m thankful he’s a Wildcat. I believe what W said. He’ll be playing baseball a long time, to be able to manipulate the baseball the way he does and land multiple pitches for a strike, pretty special.