Kentucky doesn’t typically have high expectations in baseball with Vanderbilt, Arkansas, LSU, Florida, and Texas a and m typically running the league but this year Kentucky baseball decided it was their time. Kentucky is projected to host a regional and a super-regional at this point in the season. For reference in Kentucky baseball history, they have hosted two regionals and zero super regionals both of the regionals have come under the coaching of Mingione. Coach Mingione was an assistant coach at Mississippi State before coming to the University of Kentucky.
Coach Mingione has found some gems in the transfer portal with multiple star pitchers but none better than Dominic Niman who transferred in from Central Connecticut State where last year he posted a 2.77 era and a 12-2 record. This year he is 6-2 with a 3.59 era but as of late he is catching fire he pitched a complete game shutout against the 13th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and has thrown 16 and ⅓ straight scoreless innings. On the offensive side, the two main transfers are Ryan Nicholson and Nick Lopez. Nicholson provides the power leading the team in home runs with 6. Lopez on the other hand is more of a contact hitter batting .396 and even going 6-6 against Murray State. MIngione does a great job every year in getting the best infield in the sec and making sure you gave defense in baseball is crucial.
On the Sec’s rally cap, Mingione said “He likes the way we are playing but the job’s not finished.” Kentucky has a couple of hard series coming up including 4th-ranked Tennessee, 2nd-ranked Arkansas, and 13th-ranked Vanderbilt. In the 2017 season when Kentucky hosted a regional, he said every day “Why not us”; when asked about it he said, “ We aren’t looked at as a good program but why can’t we go to Omaha and why can’t we be a good team.” That year they hosted the first ever regional in Kentucky history.
After all of this is said and done with the way Coach Mingione is coaching, I see Kentucky not only going all the way this year but them becoming a baseball school. I have heard what some other people said about this and they said Kentucky baseball is a real threat and a danger to college baseball for years to come.
