Nick Mingione praises Austin Strickland's early inning success vs. West Virginia

Kentucky took a 3-0 lead over West Virginia into the bottom of the fourth inning during the Lexington Regional on Sunday thanks to the success of Wildcats RHP Austin Strickland on the mound.

UK head coach Nick Mingione complimented the composure Strickland started the day out with, totaling four innings of three-hit baseball. He struck out four batters and walked one in 75 pitches before Mingione sung his praises.

“He throws three pitches for a strike. It’s mid-90s with a mid-80s breaking ball and then the changeup,” Mingione said on the ESPNU broadcast. “I think that anytime you’ve got that stuff, you know the movement — but throwing three pitches for a strike with that kind of movement is making it tough on them.”

Kentucky’s batters took after Strickland, playing with the same type of confidence as their pitcher. The bat Cats found themselves on the board early with a two-run first inning. RF Nolan McCarthy doubled to left field in the second to score another batter in the second.

Some controvesry crept its way into the game in the third after Kentucky C Devin Burkes was ruled out on a play at the plate that was originally ruled in UK’s favor. The crowd at Kentucky Proud Park wasn’t too happy about the call, but Mingione said those are the cut-throat decisions the umpires are forced make at this point in the season.

He still expects his players to step up and play Kentucky’s car-crash brand of baseball whether calls are falling the Wildcats’ way or not.

“It’s an elimination game,” Mingione said. “This is why we spent all the time in the weight room, working on our diet, working with our nutritionists, all these people to be ready for weekends like this.”

McCarthy must have taken his coach’s words to heart, as he made up for Burkes’ mishap in the bottom of the fourth inning. He belted his second home run of the season and extended UK’s lead to five runs heading into the fifth.

The exciting finish to Kentucky vs. West Virginia is airing live on ESPNU. The ‘Cats will be looking to hold off the Mountaineers and look toward a revenge against Indiana Sunday afternoon and advance to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament.

Indiana will have to lose twice for the Hoosiers’ to be eliminated from the regional. Kentucky or WVU won’t have that luxury.