Nolan McCarthy tweaked his hamstring but scored the winning run Sunday on this play. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Nolan McCarthy was on second base when Grant Smith struck out swinging but the ball bounced away from the Oregon State catcher Sunday night.
McCarthy took off for third but then headed home when he saw the Oregon State pitcher was not covering the plate. He scored easily to give Kentucky a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning and that turned out to be the final score to give UK the win it needed to reach the College World Series for the first time.
“I’m going to quote the players. They said he’s crazy. Coach Ming didn’t say that. Nolan is, like, super aggressive, and the guys call him crazy. And Nolan is the guy that wants to make the special play. I was telling him to stop verbally, okay, not physically,” Mingione said after the win.
“But the game was in front of him, and I’m happy he went because he saw something. We allow our players to make decisions on their own. This was different than like a base hit or something. The play was actually in front of him. When there’s a play in the outfield the play is behind him. But this was a play in front of him.”
Mingione said “easy coaching” is doing nothing.
“You don’t bunt. You don’t steal. You don’t hit and run. You don’t do anything. Really, that’s actually easy coaching,” Mingione said. “It’s hard coaching to try to get guys to do the fake bunts, the slashes, the hit and runs, hit home runs, battle with two strikes, to put plays on. It’s hard. But we have allowed our players to play with what I would say brains and guts. It takes brains and guts. And we allow them to make mistakes.”
Kentucky has had players thrown out trying to take an extra base but Mingione wants his team to always put the pressure on opponents like McCarthy did.
“I’m glad he went. He did the Superman dive. He was going to do something that it was going to be, like, it was a Nolan McCarthy moment. You know what I mean? I was telling him to stop, but I actually had my back — it was actually roles were reversed; I saw the catcher catch it. But I didn’t see the pitcher but he did. I thought it was a great play,” Mingione said.
McCarthy tweaked his hamstring on the play and had to leave the game the next inning after telling Mingione he could not make plays in the outfield.
“He took himself out, which is really smart and unselfish. Ty Crittenberger was ready. He’s always ready. He was prepared for the moment and always ready. He was honest with that. I was proud of him for that,” Mingione said.
2 Responses
In baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, a split second decision like this to take home on the wild pitch can determine the game outcome.
This was an outstanding play by McCarthy, and it is clear from the way this team plays, that Coach Mingione has taught his players to use their judgement aggressively.
One thing is the play was in front of him. He could see everything. Easy decision.