Cats taking jambalaya roster to Baton Rouge Super Regional
Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione celebrated a home run by outfielder Nolan McCarthy (19) during the NCAA Lexington Regional. (Jeff Drummond/Cats Illustrated)
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Perhaps it's fitting that the second team to ever represent Kentucky in an NCAA Baseball super regional is taking something of a jambalaya roster to Baton Rouge, La., this weekend.
Asked to explain how the Wildcats became one of the best stories in college baseball this season, UK head coach Nick Mingione used a cooking analogy Wednesday prior to taking his team south for a best-of-three series with traditional power LSU.
"To create a team, it's a lot like a good recipe," he said. "You have to have a bunch of different ingredients, right? If you just have one ingredient -- and I don't cook; you don't want to eat my food; my wife's a really good cook -- but you gotta have different ingredients, and they all go together. That's what makes a great meal.
"Sometimes for us, it's one of the transfers. Sometimes, it's one of our local guys. I thought it was so awesome that on a Monday night with the biggest crowd in the history of our program, a huge game, we had two guys from Kentucky (pitching) the baseball game. And then some of the guys who impacted it (batting) were from all over the country, and another country with Emilen (Pitre)."
It's a spicy blend of talent that has Kentucky (40-19) seeking its first trip to the College World Series in program history. The Cats, who defeated Indiana 4-2 on Monday night to claim the Lexington Regional, remain the only SEC program that has never accomplished the feat.
In order to reach Omaha, UK must now deal with traditional power LSU, which has made 18 trips to the College World Series and claimed the national championship six times.
To put the program pedigree in perspective, the Tigers have advanced to the CWS nine times since the elder statesman of UK Baseball -- grad senior pitcher Darren Williams -- was born in 1998.
LSU (46-15) took two of out three games from the Cats in April when UK played a weekend series at Alex Box Stadium. The first game was a 16-6 blowout in favor of the Tigers, but the Cats won the second game 13-10 and battled to the final inning of a 7-6 loss in the series finale.
"We didn't start off really good, that first game, that Thursday game," Mingione said. "But you could see the guys got more and more comfortable as that game went on, and that carried over into the (Friday and Saturday games). It was a one-run game (on Saturday), and we had our chances.
"I think any time you can take student-athletes and give them an experience they've had before, it's a good thing."
That sets the stage for the Baton Rouge Super Regional, although Mingione says these teams are different from the last time they saw each other.
Kentucky ace Zack Lee delivered a pitch in the Wildcats' series against Florida. (Jeff Drummond/Cats Illustrated)
"Players change," he explained. "If you look at our team now compared to then, and their team now to then, some guys are better, some guys get hot. Some guys kinda wear down, and some guys are really getting going. Guys that maybe weren't in the lineup now are in the lineup."
To Mingione's point, UK will likely start three completely different pitchers than it used against the Tigers in April.
The UK boss isn't tipping his hat on the pitching particulars for the series, although it's widely speculated to be a combination of freshman right-hander Travis Smith (4-3, 4.84 ERA), senior right-hander and staff ace Zack Lee (5-3, 3.74), and junior right-hander Austin Strickland (4-1, 4.44) starting the three games.
The Cats also have something of a ace in the hole with long reliever Mason Moore, who earned Lexington Regional all-tournament honors by tossing 10 innings of scoreless relief, allowing only four hits and one walk while striking out seven. The sophomore right-hander now boasts a 1.95 ERA on the season.
"One of the strengths of our pitching staff is we've had a lot of different guys who have started before," Mingione noted. "We feel very comfortable that no matter who we put in that role, he would have been there and done that before."
Kentucky is certain of at least one LSU starter: national player of the year candidate Paul Skenes, the likely first pitcher taken in this summer's MLB Draft. The hard-throwing junior right-hander enters the super regional with an 11-2 record, a league-leading 1.90 ERA, a league-high 179 strikeouts, and the lowest opponent batting average (.171) in the SEC.
However, in their April 13 matchup, the Cats arguably hit Skenes as well as any other team he has faced this season. He allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits in the series opener. But he also struck out 13 batters in only six innings of work.
"He's just super-competitive," Mingione said. "We''re going to have to match his competitiveness. I know it starts there. But the fastball is really good (touching 100 mph) and the slider, you know."
LSU also features arguably the best hitter in the country in outfielder Dylan Crews, who leads the SEC in batting average at .432 with an eye-popping 1.309 OPS this season. He's got 14 doubles and 17 home runs among his league-leading 95 hits on the year.
"Obviously, you look at the numbers, he's s special offensive player," said Mingione, whose staff pitched around Crews for most of the April series, including the unconventional move of walking the go-ahead runner to third in the ninth inning of Game 3 before a hit batsman plated the decisive run.
It's a contrast in offensive styles as LSU and UK rank 1-2 in the SEC in on-base percentage, but the Tigers boast a 126-51 advantage in home runs while the Cats lead the league in getting hit by pitches, sacrifice bunts, and stolen bases.
Kentucky also leads the nation in fielding percentage, while LSU ranks 11th in the SEC.
