Terry | Nick Mingione's first season better than anyone could have hoped
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Back in October, I was assigned to write UK’s fall preview for D1baseball.com. In that report, I wrote that first-year head coach Nick Mingione might spend this season trying to find enough answers to contend in 2018.
My reasons were simple. UK had to replace over 300 innings worth of pitching and outside of Evan White, the offense lacked proven hitters. Not expecting UK to contend for anything seemed like a safe bet. In the preseason, UK was voted to finish tied for fourth place in the SEC East.
But here in Louisville, where UK’s season came to an end after a 6-2 loss to Louisville in its first ever super regional, this team not expected to do much of anything will go down as the best this school has ever seen. It didn’t end in Omaha like the team and fans hoped, but the vast improvement UK made in the first season will be imperative in the future.
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“Coach Minge talked all year long that we were going to do the things that had never been done before,” First baseman Evan White said. “There has to be a team to do it. Throughout the Kentucky baseball history, it hasn’t been done before. For us to be part of that is truly special. We’ve had a remarkable year.”
It was remarkable indeed. That Mingione and his staff were able to take a group of players that hadn’t reached the postseason since 2014 and finish with a super regional in just one season shows the potential of the UK baseball program. Mingione earned SEC Coach of the Year, and UK’s pitching staff, considered to be the team’s biggest question mark prior to the season, churned out the SEC Pitcher of the Year in sophomore Sean Hjelle.
Hjelle was the losing pitcher against Louisville on Saturday, but he’ll be back as UK’s ace next season. Stud freshman Zack Thompson turned into one of the best freshman pitchers in the nation. He finished with a team-leading 3.45 ERA on the season. Justin Lewis will have to make a decision on his professional future, but if he returns, the Wildcats will bolster one of the top rotations in the conference next season.
“(Hjelle and Thompson) are two quality arms,” Mingione said. “My brain always goes toward pitching and defense. In order to win you’ve gotta pitch and you have to be able to defend. To have those two guys, a lot of things could change between now and then obviously, but like anything else we’re going to be commuting to helping those guys grow in all areas of their life.
“Man, to have those two guys on the weekend, I think Aaron (Fitt) and some of these other guys will tell you that’ll be as good of two starters as you can probably get.”
It wasn’t just the pitching staff that made great strides. UK developed one of the best offenses in the nation. The Wildcats entered this weekend with a .319 team average, good enough for the No. 7 offense in the country. Last season UK finished with a team average of .270. Almost every player on UK’s roster enjoyed better seasons offensively than the year before. Some players, like Tristan Pompey and Riley Mahan, saw huge jumps. Star first baseman Evan White and left fielder Zach Reks saw moderate increases from their successful 2016 campaign.
But players like Marcus Carson, Troy Squires, Tyler Marshall and Connor Heady were all in their fourth year of the program. It’s worth noting that Squires and Marshall are redshirts and will be back next year, but none had been outstanding in their first three seasons. By the end, Squires ended up as a member of the All-SEC second team. Marshall solidified his role as the starting third baseman down the stretch, which is a spot he should hold down next season as well. Heady and Carson started every game the Wildcats played.
Because of that, UK will have some questions to answer next season. White, an All-SEC second team selection, is the best defensive first baseman this school has ever seen. He was also UK's best hitter. Mahan, reliever Zach Pop and White will surely leave early for the MLB Draft. Weekend starter Zach Logue could join them. Add in seniors Reks, Carson, Heady and closer Logan Salow, and UK will have much to figure during fall practice.
But those are questions for another day. The team that lost to Louisville on Saturday afternoon will go down as the best team this school has seen yet. Who could have predicted that?
"We got over that hump and got into the super regional,” Mahan said. “That’s something that’s never been done before in Kentucky’s history. I can promise you guys this: the University of Kentucky baseball program is in really good hands with this coaching staff.”