Nick Mingione gets emotional over Kentucky's NCAA Tournament berth: "I couldn't be more proud"

MrsTylerKSR

nick-mingione-emotional-kentucky-baseball-ncaa-tournament-berth — Kentucky Baseball coach Nick Mingione - Crawford Ifland, Kentucky Sports Radio

Kentucky Baseball is going to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, a first in program history; however, Selection Monday didn’t come without a little anxiety. Nick Mingione told reporters this morning he was confident in his team’s resume, but couldn’t contain his emotions when his team’s name popped up as the No. 3 seed in the Clemson Regional near the end of the Selection Show.

“You trying to make me cry,” Mingione said when asked what the most gratifying moment of the season has been thus far. “It happened yesterday. It happened yesterday. Just watching our guys celebrate yesterday was — shew. It’s been a highlight.”

Mingione teared up a bit as he talked about watching his wife, Christen, and son, Reeves, celebrate along with the squad.

“And Christen and Reeves were there, and I just watched them celebrate. I looked at her, and she’s in tears, and I’m in tears, and I told them yesterday, I was like, ‘Listen, when you guys have families one day and you have an opportunity to have children, if that’s what you choose to do, and or if you lead an organization or a business, to watch your people celebrate with pure joy, it’s my favorite thing on the field, or being involved in college athletics to witness.”

The Moment: We’re dancing! pic.twitter.com/IGtMUO9SM6
— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) May 26, 2025

The celebration may not have been as grand as last year’s, when Kentucky hosted a Regional and Super Regional and advanced to the College World Series for the first time in program history; however, Mingione said it was sweet in a different way. Only two core members of last year’s team returned for another season: senior catcher Devin Burkes and redshirt junior outfielder/right-hand pitcher James McCoy. Kentucky lost seven of its nine offensive starters from last season to graduation, the professional ranks, or the transfer portal.

“I’m here to tell you that I’m super proud of this team, and I say team because of what they’ve accomplished,” he said to start today’s press conference. “And you know, just to recap what all this team was tasked with, this team has been tasked with coming off the greatest baseball season in school history, where we were SEC champions and made our first-ever trip to the College World Series.”

“Just to recap, off of last year’s team, our first baseman signed pro. Our second baseman signed pro. Our shortstop signed pro. Third baseman, signed pro, our left fielder signed pro, centerfielder went in the [transfer] portal. DH, graduated. Friday night starter signed pro, Saturday starter signed pro, Sunday starter signed pro. Closer graduated, and the number one bullpen arm graduated. So you’re sitting there going, well, who did we have back? We literally had Devin [Burkes] and James [McCoy] back, and every other spot was wide open, and there were a lot of people who never gave this team a chance to even make the postseason.”

In turn, this season hasn’t been an easy one. Kentucky lost six of its ten SEC series and was swept twice (Mississippi State and Vanderbilt). Several of those losses were extremely close. After reviewing the tape, Mingione determined that his team was just nine plays away from winning the SEC regular season championship for the second year in a row. Instead, the Cats finished the regular season with a 13-17 conference record, which was 13th in the standings.

“I’ve got it down to nine plays; I can tell you every single one of them. And I say that because that’s how small the margin of victory is, and to get this team and to get this group of new players to understand that, it’s a real challenge, but they understand it now. And I told them yesterday, I’m like, I hope you guys understand now. I hope you understand why it is that we say the standard is the standard.”

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“There are so many other teams that would have just folded”

Even though the Cats were still learning that lesson as recently as the Vanderbilt series to close the regular season, Mingione believes the adversity has made them stronger heading into the NCAA Tournament.

“Yesterday, I just told them how proud I was of them, because when we went through that stretch where we were losing those one and two-run ball games, there are so many other teams that would have just folded and been like, ‘Man, this is too much. This is too much.’ And this team did not do that.”

Now, Kentucky has a new life in the NCAA Tournament with a favorable draw as the No. 3 seed in the Clemson Regional. As Mingione put it, they’re just five wins away from making the College World Series again, which would be pretty remarkable.

“I’m super proud of them, because look what’s happened: they’ve become a team. And even to the last day and the last minute, there were still some people who did not know or believe if we were even worthy or going to make the postseason. And here we are now. They completed history and did something that’s never been done in Kentucky baseball history. We’re playing in our third straight NCAA regional.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the guys than our staff, because I’ve been in this situation before as a head coach, and when we lost that many people. We finished dead last in the SEC. Dead last. And I’m just proud of this group of guys and the staff, because we are now five wins away from going back to the College World Series, and that wouldn’t be possible without our leadership.”

That journey starts Friday against No. 2 seed West Virginia at Noon ET on ESPNU. If you’d like to cheer the Cats on in Clemson, tickets go on sale tomorrow morning. Kentucky’s open practice takes place Thursday afternoon from 1-2:15 p.m. ET at Doug Kinsmore Stadium.