Kentucky and LSU Kick Off Super Regional

It all comes down to this. After an exciting week for the Kentucky Baseball program, it’s put up or shut up time. Kentucky has made the trip to Baton Rouge for just their second-ever Super Regional appearance (2017) and will kick things off today at 3:00 p.m. on ESPN.

The ‘Cats did it the hard way, falling into the loser’s bracket of the Lexington Regional following a second-round loss to Indiana. Nick Mingione’s resilient squad, however, won three games in two days, culminating in a 4-2 takedown of Indiana Monday night to punch their ticket to the Supers.

“There’s no secret we’ve been close the last three years and we’ve been knocking on a door and it just hasn’t been good enough,” Mingione said on KSR. “All of a sudden in the biggest game, in our stadium, we set all these records, and I’m just thankful because a lot of people care not only just about our baseball program but the athletic department…That’s a pretty neat feeling as a coach.”

LSU, however, breezed through the Baton Rouge Regional. Their first-round matchup? The 19-40 Tulane Green Wave, a team that made the NCAA Tournament following one of the biggest conference tournament upsets of all time. SEC Pitcher of the Year, Paul Skenes, blew through the Green Wave before easily handling Oregon State in back-to-back games to advance to their 26th Super Regional.

Kentucky and LSU traveled extremely different paths but ended up in the same spot. Let’s dive into these two squads.

LSU Impact Players

What isn’t known about this stacked LSU squad yet? They have one of the greatest 1-2 punches in College Baseball history with Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes, who are both finalists for the Golden Spikes Award and are projected to be picks number one and two in the upcoming 2023 MLB Draft. Heck, some media outlets are even saying that LSU has more talent than some MLB farm systems (*cough* *cough* feeble Mets). This team is extremely impressive, but they are beatable.

The ‘Cats found this out back on April 14th when they came back from a brutal opening game of the series to take down the mighty Tigers 13-10 in Baton Rouge. Paul Skenes pitched the opening game of the series and although the ‘Cats lost by 10 runs, the Kentucky offense accounted for one of Skenes’ worst (the bar is high) pitching performances of the season. Skenes gave up a season-high five runs and seven hits to Kentucky back on April 13th. To make up for this, Skenes did strike out 13 Wildcats, which wasn’t even close to being a season-high.

Paul Skenes. 🫡🫡🫡

124 pitch COMPLETE GAME. 100 mph seed to end it. Show ready. pic.twitter.com/uICdzrkYeU

— 11Point7: The College Baseball Podcast 🎙 (@11point7) June 2, 2023

“Not only does he throw hard but he’s got a fastball that runs a lot,” Kentucky pitcher Austin Strickland said on Saturday. “And so when — his ability to control the strike zone like that is really incredible. So just watching him, I just want to emulate that as much as I can. Just put my pitches in and out of the zone when I need to and let the chips fall where they may.”

Crews was walked six times by the Wildcat pitching staff but still went 3-7 from the plate with an RBI and five runs scored. Tommy White, who was one of the best transfers in the nation this season, also dominated against the ‘Cats. White went 5-13 from the plate, belting a home run and eight RBIs to go along with eight runs scored. This LSU team can build a lead and build it fast. Bring on that Baton Rouge atmosphere.

Kentucky Impact Players

When the Wildcats played in Baton Rouge earlier this season, just one player had played in that atmosphere before. It was seventh-year slinger Darren Williams, all the way back in his EKU days. Now, the team has experienced that crowd at its peak, won a game, and nearly a series back in April.

“It is a special environment,” Mingione said of Alex Box Stadium. “I told our team last time, I didn’t — you know, it was my fault, I felt like because I didn’t know how to prepare them for 13,000 people to scream against them. Right? We didn’t have that and you know, it was kind of like, boom, a little shell shock at the beginning. But yeah, it’s a special environment and they’ll definitely be loud.”

Nick Mingione also emphasized his desire for his guys to be ultra-aggressive this weekend during his appearance on KSR on Friday. “I think that’s what you got to do to beat the bully or whatever, you’ve got to get in there and you’ve got to throw punches. And yeah, he will strike out some. That’s what he does. I mean the guy you’re gonna see, he’s been in the eighth inning before still throwing 100 miles per hour, but I want our guys to get in the ring with him and throw punches.”

Second Team All-SEC selection Émilien Pitre enjoyed success against Skenes, going 3-3 with two singles, a double, and two RBI. Pitre caught fire in Baton Rouge, going 7-12 with five RBI and four runs scored in the three-game series. Devin Burkes was just 3-13 fighting through a mid-season slump, but Burkes suddenly looks like one of the best players in the sport heading into the Super Regional. Burkes was 6-13 with two home runs, seven RBIs and seven runs scored over Kentucky’s five Regional games. When he’s going, the ‘Cats are going. Burkes’ base hit celebrations send a shockwave through the entire Wildcat dugout, electrifying one of the most efficient offenses left in the field.

PETEY!@emilien_pitre with his third hit in as many AB against Skenes, a rocket into the RF corner for a two-run double right after Cats scored a double steal. pic.twitter.com/22YTKq8wE1

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) April 14, 2023

When it comes to Kentucky’s pitching staff, Mingione may roll out the same blueprint he had in the Lexington Regional. Start Travis Smith in game one, Zack Lee in game two, and Darren Williams in a potential game three. I’d suggest starting Austin Strickland in game one, as Stricky has caught fire late in the season. After just missing the cut to be a starter at the beginning of the year, Strickland has allowed just seven hits and three runs while striking out 13 batters over his last 12.2 IP (Florida & Indiana). Strickland pitched against LSU back on April 15th, allowing two earned runs on two hits in 2.2 innings pitched. These games definitely won’t be pitchers’ duels, as they are going to come down to who can score 8-plus runs first. It should be an exciting weekend in Death Valley.