Kentucky "confident" and "hungry" heading into Super Regional vs. LSU

This weekend, No. 12 Kentucky takes on No. 5 LSU for a spot in the College World Series. The Tigers have arguably the top pitcher (Paul Skenes) and hitter (Dylan Crews) in college baseball and were ranked No. 1 for most of the season, but the Cats are taking plenty of their own confidence with them to Baton Rouge.

Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione, senior infielder Grant Smith, and junior pitcher Austin Strickland met with the media earlier today to preview this weekend’s best-of-three Super Regional. The words “confident,” “competitive,” and “hungry” were used often.

“I can tell you this, I wouldn’t want to do it with another group of guys,” Mingione said of going to his second Super Regional. “This is a special team. A bunch of competitive people. Their term is ‘dogs’ and I would agree. They’re a bunch of dogs and I love being their coach.”

After losing to Indiana and moving to the loser’s bracket on Saturday, Kentucky won three straight elimination games to take the regional and a spot in Baton Rouge. Mingione said that in the final game vs. the Hoosiers on Sunday, he was happy to see his players having fun, throwing each other in the air in the dugout, and showing off their dance moves after doubles.

“You almost sensed that our team took a deep breath. Some of the dugout antics started coming out and it was just good to see the guys cut loose and be free.”

Kentucky Proud Park is a mood right now. Love to see it. pic.twitter.com/c8CPMtYmav

— Tyler Thompson (@MrsTylerKSR) June 5, 2023

When it’s your birthday and you were just named the regional’s Most Outstanding Player. Happy birthday, @Devin_Burkes! pic.twitter.com/pGdEIXi8DH

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) June 6, 2023

Mingione took Kentucky to its first Super Regional in his first year as coach, 2017. Since then, the program skidded, to the point this was considered a make-or-break year for Mingione in Lexington; by overhauling the roster with a dozen transfers and six freshmen, he turned it into a “make.”

“The transfers, there’s no question that they’ve been a huge, huge influence on this season but even the guys that are currently [freshmen], that were high school guys that haven’t been in the program, I would just say their overall hunger in general as a team and desire to win, that’s the one thing that stood out, one of many things that continues to stand out. Their desire to win and dominate.”

“I felt like it was just a bunch of really competitive people in terms of how we all went about our business,” Smith said. “Everybody was really driven and really focused to improve their own abilities but at the same time, the team aspect was really prevalent since we stepped on the field the first day and started practicing. I think that competitive drive as a collective effort has really helped us get to this point.”

“I think everyone’s really confident and that belief system we have in each other really helps us,” Strickland added.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

Why the series loss at LSU gives the Cats confidence

Kentucky has already been to LSU once this season, losing a weekend series to the then-No. 1 Tigers in mid-April. After losing the first game 16-6, the Cats took the second game of the series 13-10 before dropping the finale 7-6. Putting up a fight in that series gives them confidence they can pull off the upset with a spot in Omaha on the line.

“We know they’re a good team but I think the biggest takeaway is we’re a good team too,” Grant Smith said. “We could have won the series against them. All three games were competitive except for a couple of innings that made the score seem kind of out of hand. But year, we’re definitely confident going into this series.”

“Going into LSU, we’ve been there a time and they’re a great team,” Austin Strickland said. “They were No. 1 in the country for a really long time and I have nothing but respect for them. We’re going to go in and give it our best shot and I think these last few weeks we’ve been playing pretty good baseball and especially this weekend our offense really turned it on so I’m pretty confident going down there.”

Both players said having experience at Alex Box Stadium, aka “The Box,” helps as well.

“I think just knowing the environment and knowing that we’ve been there before can help us be really calm and confident,” Strickland said. “Definitely when you’re going into a Super Regional environment it’s a little bit different than a random one in April but we’ve been to The Box. We know what it looks like and we know what our dugout is going to be and our bullpen is going to be. There’s definitely confidence there when you’re familiar with your surroundings to an extent. It’s going to lead to a lot more confidence for our team.”

“Obviously, just the amount of people there,” Smith recalled of April’s trip to The Box. “They’re all on the same page in terms of chants and the loudness of their voices but us as a team, we say we came to Kentucky for a reason, to play in these kinds of environments and get these opportunities so it’s nothing but fun and excitement out there for us.”

LSU is the second betting favorite to win the entire College World Series behind Wake Forest. On their home field with a rowdy crowd, the Tigers will be tough to beat. After fighting off elimination three times to win their regional, the Cats are ready for the challenge.

“We’re all just really hungry to win,” Smith said. “Really hungry to get after it. You know, not a lot of us have had this opportunity before so trying to make the most of it but most importantly, put our heads down and get after it.”