Nick Mingione on Kentucky fans: 'Best Thursday night crowd I've ever seen'

Kentucky has officially clinched a share of the SEC regular season baseball title, and head coach Nick Mingione praised the fan turnout for helping push the Wildcats through vs. Vanderbilt.

The Commodores visited Lexington this weekend for a three-game series to wrap up the regular season, and it was Kentucky who came out victorious in the first game by a 10-5 score Thursday evening. After the win, Mingione made a point to credit the crowd for showing up in a major way on a Thursday.

“So yeah, how about our crowd tonight? That was the best Thursday night crowd I’ve ever seen,” he asserted in the postgame interview. “I mean, that’s a record, too. It had to be. Check the attendance on that. That had to be the most well-attended Thursday night game. That was absolutely awesome. So thank you to our fans.”

The 2024 Kentucky baseball team has helped Kentucky Proud Park set attendance records throughout the season. Plus, with the grand stand they shipped in for the upcoming postseason games, Kentucky is likely to smash its attendance record by an even larger number in the weeks ahead.

Mingione reflects on SEC title

With Kentucky now assured a share of the SEC title, the head coach of the Wildcats took some time to speak on such an incredible achievement following UK’s second win over Vandy in as many days.

“I just keep going back to… thankful,” Mingione said. “What a team. Just relentless, nonstop, just keep coming and coming and coming and coming on both sides. Really proud of our guys for so many reasons.”

He continued, explaining how grateful he is to see this particular group of guys complete a historic season at Kentucky.

“I’ve just gotten to this spot where when you watch the guys go about their business every day, you just want all the success for them. You just want it for them because no one will ever be able to take it away from them. That’s what I told them tonight.

“They’ll forever be SEC champions, and no one will ever be able to take that away. They’ll remember tonight for the rest of their life. But this team deserves it. They deserve it. From everything they do, for the way they go about their business, I cannot tell you enough. This is a group of guys who absolutely deserve this, and they’ve earned it.”