Nick Mingione is Super Proud of Cats (W/ Photos)

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Vicky Graff Photo

The Kentucky baseball team endured a magical ride last season and reached the College World Series for the first time in school history.

The sequel hasn’t been as successful, but to repeat the feat, the Wildcats (29-24) will have to take a different route to Omaha, opening the regional at Clemson on Friday. Kentucky earned a No. 1 seed a year ago, but will be a third seed in a school-record third straight appearance.

Kentucky carries a four-game losing streak into Friday’s opener against No. 2 West Virginia, and Wildcats coach Nick Mingione is ready for a reset.

“Here we are now, doing something that’s never been done in Kentucky baseball history, we’re playing in our third straight NCAA Regional,” Mingione said Tuesday. “I couldn’t be more proud of the guys and our staff because I’ve been in this situation before as a head coach.

“When we lost that many people, we finished dead last in the SEC. We are now five wins away from going back to the College World Series.”

Despite the late struggles, Kentucky has had its share of success this season, including a win over Texas, a sweep of Southeastern Conference newcomer Oklahoma, defeating Louisville and taking two of three games from Tennessee in a three-game series.

“(They were) coming off the greatest baseball season in school history, where we were SEC champions and made our first-ever trip to the College World Series,” Mingione said. “We had (just) Devin (Burkes) and James (McCoy) back, and every other spot was wide open. There were a lot of people who never even gave this team a chance to make the postseason.”

As the season progressed, Mingione said the Wildcats “had a decision to make” regarding the season.

“Would they be a group of individuals, fighting for every job on the field, or would we be a team?” Mingione said. “I’m super proud of this team, and I say team because of what they’ve accomplished.”

On Monday, Kentucky celebrated as one, making baseball’s version of the Big Dance, proving its hard work had paid off in the form of an at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals.

“I told them yesterday, when you guys have families one day and you have children, if that’s what you choose to do, or when you lead an organization or a business, to watch your people celebrate with pure joy,” Mingione said.

“It’s my favorite thing on the field or being involved in college athletics to witness. To watch a group of individuals, our coaches, our staff, our players, to watch the pure excitement and emotion. That was my favorite part of the season – to watch them celebrate.”

The Kentucky coach said the players and coaches are aware of what it took to succeed after last year’s successful campaign.

“No one will understand the amount of hard work and discipline it took, no one will understand the sacrifices that they had to make,” Mingione said. “No one is going to know all of the time they spent extra time in the cages, working on their delivery, watching video, no one will understand the amount of time, effort, and energy it took to get to this spot, but they do.”

Clemson Regional

Friday’s Games

• Noon: No. 2 West Virginia (41-14) vs. No. 3 Kentucky (29-24), ESPNU
• 6 p.m. No. 1 Clemson (44-16) vs. No. 4 USC Upstate (36-23), ACCN

Kentucky Baseball Press Conference

Photos by Vicky Graff

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