LEXINGTON, Ky. — Even Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops said it didn’t feel right talking about football with such a big baseball weekend ahead.
“It seems odd to be promoting football when we should be promoting baseball,” Stoops told the crowd at the Governor’s Cup Luncheon on Tuesday.
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Yes, for a state so keen on basketball and football, baseball is coming around too. Louisville and Kentucky will meet in the super regionals this weekend at Jim Patterson Stadium. It’s the first time the Wildcats have ever played in a super regional. Louisville, on the other hand, has been to the College World Series three times and will be making its fifth straight super regional appearance.
“I’m really happy for the state of Kentucky,” UK baseball coach Nick Mingione said. “I’ve always said this, but if their team can be good and our team can be good at the same time, that’s really good for our state. You know who’s getting a lot of attention from the national media? Both programs. There’s a lot of people talking about that. When you start thinking about all the other states and all the other teams they can be talk about, a lot of them are talking about our state and our team. That’s really neat.”
Mingione was named the SEC Coach of the Year in his first season with the Wildcats after leading them to 38 wins in the regular season. Louisville’s Dan McDonnell was named ACC Coach of the Year after an impressive 46-win regular season.
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“I know this is exciting for everybody, especially the state of Kentucky,” McDonnell told reporters in Louisville this week. “We realize the magnitude for the fans and the excitement for everybody else. I think it’s really cool.”
But going into this weekend’s matchup, the two programs are still in vastly different places. Louisville, a national seed the past two seasons, was upset in the super regional round in 2015 and 2016. Competing for the College World Series is expected at Louisville, and surely the finishes to the past two seasons have been disappointing for the Cardinals.
For UK, just making it to a super regional is cause for celebration. In terms of postseason play, the Wildcats have already enjoyed their best season in school history.
“I believe in brutal honesty,” Mingione said. “Their program is in a different place than ours. This is their fifth one in a row. This is our first time in school history. But at the same time, our message to our team all year has been to do things that have never been done before.”
Mingione has long had the College World Series as the goal for this team. Those expectations last summer seemed unrealistic, but Mingione convinced his team to buy in right away. Numerous times this season Mingione has mentioned how every player was locked in for the complete two hours during the first team meeting. In that meeting, reaching the College World Series was defined as the goal. Now the Wildcats are just two wins away from doing so.
“The first hashtag I ever sent them was Omaha17,” Mingione said. “I’m looking ahead. I want to know where I’m going. That’s been the goal. The second day I sent them a message about us having to win a national championship. Omaha is the destination, but the goal is to win the whole thing. As long as I’m the head coach here that will always be the on-field goal.”
