Nick Mingione reflects on Kentucky's Super Regional loss against LSU

The best or second best Kentucky baseball season of all time came to a bitter end on Sunday night as LSU sent the ‘Cats back up to the Bluegrass state after a two-game sweep in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.

Sure, the loss just short of the College World series stinks, but head coach Nick Mingione didn’t weep over what could have been in his postgame press conference, instead opting to thank his players for a year that turned the program around.

“Really proud of the group of men that I have in our program,” Mingione began late Sunday evening after the Game 2 defeat. “A lot of, you know, second time we’ve ever even been to one of these. And I think you guys could see how tough and gritty, unselfish, how much they love Kentucky, how they’re willing to do whatever it takes to win. And I feel bad I couldn’t help lead them to do something that’s never been done before in the history of our program.”

Mingione then went on to tell a story about pitcher Darren Williams on his visit back when he transferred to Kentucky that sort of serves as a microcosm for the whole 2023 team’s mindset.

“But these group of men have changed our program forever and I’m forever grateful for them, including the guy to my left who, on his visit, his main question was: ‘Coach, what is it going to take to host a regional here at Kentucky Proud Park? It wasn’t about scholarship money, it wasn’t about NIL opportunities, it was about none of that.”

Williams, like so many other veteran transfers who found a home at UK the last couple years, was all in on doing his part to be a part of a special run. They came up just short of unprecedented history but still made their own by becoming the second squad in school history to advance to the supers.

“His whole goal was: what is it going to take to host a regional at Kentucky?” Mingione continued. “And he’s a great example of what a real man should be like and what it’s like to be unselfish. And I’m thankful for him and the group of men that I had the opportunity and privilege to coach this year.”

A selfless team-first mindset like Williams has is what powered this Wildcat resurgence in a year where, frankly, Nick Mingione needed to come through. Despite the tough ending, this team did just that, and it’s worth being proud of.