Nick Mingione Discusses Thrilling Win Over Morehead St.
Kentucky entered the eighth inning of Tuesday night’s home opener against Morehead State trailing 5-2.
By the start of the ninth inning however, Kentucky lead 9-5 after rallying for seven runs in the bottom of the eighth.
RHP Johnny Hummel came in for the save, cementing the feel-good, comeback victory for the Cats at Kentucky Proud Park. Head coach Nick Mingione had a lot to say following the win.
No Quit in the Cats
Prior into the eighth inning, the Cats had scratched across just two runs on four hits. Staring a bad loss straight in the face, Kentucky flipped the script with a seven-run, four hit eighth inning to claim a late lead.
“I told them, ‘I don’t think we could play any worse’ offensively or defensively at the beginning of the game,” Nick Mingione said. “I give our pitchers a lot of credit. They kept us in there and they allowed us to be able to come back. I told our team I was really proud. It would have been easy to just think ‘this is not our night’, but they didn’t do that. They called their own players meeting in the sixth inning. Their desire to win really showed.”
Drew Lafferty’s First Career Start
Redshirt freshman RHP Drew Lafferty made his first career start Tuesday night. Lafferty pitched two innings, giving up no hits and no runs while striking out two batters. Mingione beamed about the righty following the game.
“I just loved how he attacked the strike zone,” Mingione said. “Not with only his fastball, but with multiple pitches. He worked out of trouble and gave us an A+ second inning, so I’m happy for him. We cheered for him twice in our huddle after the game because that guy has worked his butt off and was ready for the opportunity. He took advantage of it.”
Praise for Morehead’s Rotkis
RHP Joe Rotkis started on the mound for the Eagles Tuesday night, throwing five three hit, one run innings with one strikeout. At one point, Rotkis had forced 10 consecutive Wildcat ground-ball outs. Mingione showed respect to the fifth-year pitcher following the win.
“He threw a great game,” Mingione said. “What a great game. I think all of us were happy to see him come out of the game. He’s throwing his two-seamer and it’s got a ton of horizontal run and sync and he’s trying to get ground balls. That’s exactly what we did. For us to be better, we can’t do that. He’s trying to get ground balls and I told our team, ‘We’re not going to do that. We’re going to get the ball to the outfield. But he threw a great game.”
Bunts and Bombs, the Mingione Way.
Prior to Mitch Daly’s RBI-single in the seventh inning, Kentucky scored their first five runs on singles, sacrifice bunts, and HBP. This is how Nick Mingione loves to win baseball games, by perfecting the small things.
“That’s us at our best,” Mingione said with a smile on his face. “I told our team before, the strike zone is like the line of scrimmage in football. Whoever dominates it from the pitching side and offensive side wins the game. I thought we did a great job with the strike zone, especially there in the seventh. Bunts and bombs. We didn’t get the bomb, but that big hit by Nicholson was awesome.”
Strong Bench Play
Mitchell Daly, Eli Small, and Patrick Herrera all had big impacts on Tuesday night’s victory after coming off the bench. Daly delivered a go-ahead RBI-single in the eighth, Small was one of the fire starters of the eighth inning rally, and Herrera was plunked by a pitch that brought home Kentucky’s fourth run of the game. Mingione saluted these guys and their play following the win.
Daly replaced Nick Lopez at third base in the fifth inning following three early errors from Lopez.
“I want to give our guys credit. Coming off the bench, Mitch Daly stepped right in and played a great third base,” Mingione said. “Eli Small stepped in as a freshman and had two great at-bats. Pat Herrera came off the bench and got us. The strength of our team is our team and I told them today that we were going to get a lot of guys opportunities. I’m proud of the way they responded off the bench.”
Kentucky Proud Park’s Energy
Kentucky’s attendance from Tuesday’s home opener against Morehead State was officially marked at 2,844 fans. It was an 850-person increase from last season’s home opener. The energy at KPP was electric, to say the least.
“I’m so thankful, I talked about that with our team. “[The fans] energy, the excitement, their effort. The fans got behind them. You could see that there was a clear home field advantage. When you’re standing on the bump and all those fans are doing what they were doing, it makes things very difficult. I’m thankful for those that came out and what a day weather wise.”
Later this week, Kentucky will take its undefeated record into Round Rock, Texas, for the Karbach Round Rock Classic. The Cats play Washington State on Friday, Texas State on Saturday, and Kansas on Sunday.
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