Kentucky baseball gave fans a lot to cheer about this season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Nick Mingione has an idea about how this Kentucky team likely has changed the UK baseball program forever despite Wednesday’s 15-4 loss to Florida in the College World Series that ended UK’s remarkable season.
Mingione said after the loss that he knew after UK lost a series to Kennesaw State early in the season that the team came together to create its identity.
“I’ve done an amazing job this year of taking all this in. I could just sense — I knew how special they were. Their uncommon focus every single day, their unselfishness. I really dreaded this day because I just want to keep being around these guys. They are truly an amazing group of men,” Mingione said.
“And the way they represented this program, the institution and our state, like, the entire state of Kentucky, is really remarkable. When we started out, was it 14-1 in the league? It was just like, wow. And literally they never took their foot off the gas pedal. They just kept attacking and just showing up every day like it’s a new day.”
Every day this season has been spectacular in some way. Remember the back to back all-time attendance marks UK set in the super regional after also having huge crowds for games late in the season. Think about the national notoriety the program got on a daily basis the last six weeks or so.
“They just had a true uncommon focus and belief in each other, in our program, in everything we were doing. And that’s not normal. I can tell you this, that’s what it was going to take for us to knock down the wall,” Mingione said.
At the UK baseball facility the last sign the players see before going on the field says “The Road to Omaha.” That was no accident. Mingione wanted that sign placed exactly where it is.
“I wanted the players to understand that every day they walked through that wall and that’s where it was going to start,” Mingione said.
Mingione paused to ask his son, Reeves, what his father did every time he walked by that wall with the sign the last two years.
“It’s almost like he punches it, like he wanted to knock it down,” Reeves Mingione said.
The UK coach said he never missed punching the wall.
“I knew it was going to take a special group of men. For two years I’ve never walked down that hallway without pushing the wall down,” Mingione said. “And it was a reminder to myself, every time I walk out there, these guys deserve my best. Every time.
“It was like a switch that would just put me in the right mind frame that I would just give these guys everything I had. I just had one of our seniors tell me, ‘Coach, the way you’ve loved us and the way you’ve literally poured your heart and soul into this, this is one of the reasons why we’re here.’”
Mingione downplayed what the player told him and said it was about the way the players represented the program more than anything he did.
“I believed in this team. And I knew we could do it. I knew we could do it,” Mingione said. “And I’m thankful we got here. And I wish we would have accomplished the ultimate goal of national champions, but they made history forever.”
One Response
It was a great season to watch,