Nick Mingione: Kentucky will have hands full in elimination game vs. Florida
Kentucky coach Nick Mingione knows the Wildcats have some familiarity with Florida ahead of an elimination game in the College World Series.
Kentucky fell 5-1 to Texas A&M Monday while Florida stayed alive with a 5-4 win over NC State in an elimination game earlier in the day. Now to stay alive, the SEC foes have to square off once again,
Knowing your opponent is key and Mingione kept a close eye on the Gators.
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“They’ve played great of late,” Mingione said. “When you just think about what they had to do to even make the postseason, you give them so much credit. That last weekend what they did in Georgia, and obviously they’ve been playing really good since.
“And you know what, they took the hard path here. They were on the road for both the Regional and Super. And this league, you know this, but every week and every — every week it seems like teams can change. And this is a team that we’re facing tomorrow that’s been there, done that. They’re well-coached as you know.”
As with any opponent at this stage, Mingione won’t take anyone lightly, especially the Gators.
“Yeah, we’ll definitely have our hands full,” Mingione said. “But they’re not the same team from when we played them a couple of weeks ago.”
Coming off a loss, it’s tough to shrug off the negativity. But Mingione used the word “gratitude” to describe his club.
“We didn’t stop competing,” Mingione said. “We had opportunities. In a game like today, that’s what it was going to take. It was going to take our guys just continuing to fight, and we didn’t cash in. We had some chances, didn’t cash in. But I’m thankful for the way our guys — are we two or three inches — how far was that ball fouled in the ninth? I don’t know if you saw the replay. It was inches. Three. Very close. That’s two more runs and all of a sudden it’s we’re a runner away.
“So the margin of victory is so small. It always has been. But you’re right, I’m just so thankful, and I had a thought today that I hadn’t had all year, and I know you guys know this, I love my team. Like, I love my team. They’re amazing. We talk about the student, the person, the player, they’ve crushed everything. They had a 3.2 GPA this spring, the way they treat the kids, had so many people in the hotel come up to me about what kind of character our guys have.”