Nick Mingione discusses Kentucky baseball's culture shift

The Kentucky Wildcats baseball team are only two wins away from punching their tickets to the 2023 College World Series. If they can pull it off, it’d be the first College World Series appearance in school history. However, a stiff challenge stands in the way in the form of the No. 5 seed LSU Tigers. They’ve got two of the top draft picks in the 2023 MLB Draft and both players were even recently named finalists for the 2023 Golden Spikes Award. Recently, Kentucky Wildcats head coach Nick Mingione recently took some time to talk about the culture he’s built in his baseball program.

Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione describes his team’s culture

“Yeah, you know that’s a really good term is hungry. And I would say it just wasn’t the transfers it was guys that were in the program, too. You know who else was hungry? Were our fans. How special were they? They helped create that environment that made it extremely hard to play in. You know, they were hungry. So, the transfers there’s no question that they’ve been a huge, huge influence on this season. But with the guys that are currently, that were high school guys that have been in the program. I would just say they’re all hungry in general as a team. A desire to win. That’s the one thing that stood out. Not the one thing but the one of many that continues to stand out, their desire to win and dominate. Guys, I just love how loose they were in the dugout, throwing fives up in the air,” Mingione said.

“Then I saw some guys score a run. And I don’t typically look at the dugout and everybody’s sitting down. Water bottles squirtin’….To create a team, you guys know this, but it’s a lot like a good recipe. You have to have a bunch of different ingredients. Right? If you just have one ingredient….but you’ve gotta have a bunch of different ingredients. And they all go together and that’s what made you a great meal. So, sometimes for us, it can be one of the transfers, it can be some of our local guys. I thought it was so awesome, that on Monday night, the biggest crowd in the history of the program. Huge game….But some of the guys that impacted it on the other end were from all over the country,” Mingione said.

“And another country with Emilien [Pitre]. Right?! Like we have multiple countries represented. Just the fact that we have a team and a group of guys that care that much. And really, they can be from all over. Right?! A lot like all these different microphones and tape recorders. But it’s all gotta make it go. I’m thankful for not only all the transfers but for all the guys in our program,” Mingione said.

The Kentucky Wildcats will face the No. 5 seed LSU Tigers in Game 1 of the Super Regionals on Saturday, June 10th. That one will begin at 2:00 PM CST and will be nationally televised on ESPN.