Nick Mingione shares initial thoughts on LSU matchup

Kentucky has advanced to the Super Regional for the first time since 2017, which was head coach Nick Mingione’s first year as the program’s head coach.

With that, Kentucky will be playing in Baton Rouge against LSU. It won’t be an easy task, and Mingione knows that as he shared his initial thoughts on the matchup between the two SEC programs.

“Great team, great program,” Nick Mingione said. “I know their head coach [Jay Johnson] well. We’re good friends. He’s one of the premier coaches in the country.”

In April, Kentucky traveled to Baton Rouge for a three-game series. During that set, the Tigers took two out of three games from the Wildcats.

“I think anytime that you can go somewhere that you’ve already been, that definitely helps. And I told them, I don’t know how to prepare you to have 13,000 people go against you,” Mingione said.

“But we’ve been there. They have great fans. They’re great people. And it will definitely be a different environment now. It’s a really good one, but it will go up another level. But the fact that our guys have experienced that definitely helps.”

So, Nick Mingione knows that Kentucky is in for a huge test against LSU. The question is whether or not Kentucky will be able to overcome LSU’s massive homefield advantage.

Nick Mingione on the win over Indiana

With Kentucky’s 4-2 win over Indiana, the Wildcats advanced to the Super Regional. It was an emotional moment for the team and after the game, Nick Mingione opened up about the dogpile after the game, which had been coming since 2017.

“That’s my favorite thing to do as a coach. This team was built a long time ago. When you think about recruiting in baseball, guys commit when they’re freshmen in high school, and sophomores. And to have all those guys come through and deliver in that moment and watch them celebrate, it doesn’t get any better as a coach because they’re the ones that have made the pitches. They’re the ones that have made the plays. They are the ones that went to the workouts. They’re the ones that went to class. They’re the ones that do it,” Mingione said.

“And when you get a chance to just see pure joy, it’s one of the best feelings as a coach. That’s the only thing you could ever hope for on a field is to watch your team celebrate. And I was soaking it in. And I was loving every second of it.”