Mingione: "I'm just so thankful for the BBN... They didn't move. They held their ground."

Before the fans went home to dry their clothes and the lights went out over Kentucky Proud Park, Nick Mingione and his players celebrated a second NCAA Regional championship on the field in front of thousands who stayed later into Sunday night to witness it. The Big Blue Nation, Nick Mingione said, was a critical part of the weekend sweep. “I’m just so thankful for the BBN,” he told reporters in his postgame press conference. “We have a saying in our program that we do not move. And when that weather came in and it started raining, and I looked out there, our fans did the same thing. They didn’t move. They held their ground, and they just waited. So thankful for them.”

Official attendance was listed at 5,877 to witness Kentucky’s repeat regional title. The fans who didn’t mad-dash to the parking lot after the last out heard Mingione address the crowd by microphone from the field, telling them the Wildcats are not done yet as they get ready to host the Super Regional next weekend.

“I just keep going back to my heart being filled with the amount of gratitude. And the reason why I said we’re not done yet is because we have another game. And whoever it’s going to be, whoever we’re going to play, we know it’s going to be a great opponent. We’ll respect them, but this one does feel different because we’ve been able to do it two years in a row. I think anytime you have a team that can experience something and to be able to do it again, I also notice that our team didn’t dogpile. They just high-fived and that made it feel different.”

The easiest path to Omaha is through your home field

Mingione continued, saying, “We’ve always said that the path to Omaha, the easiest path is through your home field. And we’re, again, for the third time in seven seasons, we’re two wins away, and it’s going to take a total team effort. It’s going to take the BBN to show up just like they did regardless of the weather. That was amazing.”

Grant Smith, the playmaking shortstop with two incredible Sunday defensive highlights, also expressed his appreciation for the fan support throughout the weekend and the regular-season series leading up to Kentucky’s postseason draw. Smith said, “(Fan support) was awesome. The second half of the season, the whole season, honestly, just so special with BBN. And tonight was incredible. I can’t remember that feeling of having a crowd like that.”

Kentucky’s other star infielder, second baseman Émilien Pitre, thought the crowd of nearly 6,000 fans was so loud, it felt like even more. “I’m seeing 5,800 right there as the attendance,” said Pitre as he looked over the game notes in the postgame press conference. “It felt like 10,000. I can’t imagine what it’s going to feel like next weekend.”

Tickets went fast early Monday morning, so fans have already done their part before knowing the games’ dates, times, or the opponent. The early forecast looks much better than this past weekend’s run of downpours, too.

So, let’s run it back for the first-ever Supers in Lexington, Big Blue Nation. You got to pump it up.