April 28, 2026 • 20 mins
Darren Headrick talks with Head Coach Nick Mingione
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Kentucky Wildcats earned a critical win at South Carolina
on Sunday, and they're hoping that momentum carries over to
this weekend when they host the Tennessee Volunteers at Kentucky
Proud Park. Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Nick Minjion Show.
I'm Darren Heddrick, coach will join us in just a
few minutes. The Wildcats are thirty eight in the latest RPI.
(00:21):
They've got twenty seven wins overall and nine in league
play before this critical showdown with the Balls in Lexington
this weekend coming up. Over the next half hour, we'll
chat with coach Menjeon and get some update on guys
who are hoping to come back this week from various
illnesses or injuries. And we'll also talk to him about
some of the top performers of the week against Louisville
(00:44):
and South Carolina and much more so. Stick around over
the next half hour we'll chat Kentucky baseball with the
head man, Nick Minjeon right here on the UK Sports Network.
Welcome back into the Nick Minjeon radio shows. The Cats
are preparing for a weekend series with Tennessee here at.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Cant Yucky Proud Park.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
That series is brought to you by Forever Long Central,
Kentucky's premium artificial turf dealer. But before we look ahead,
let's look back on last week as Coach slides in
alongside us on the show. Now and Coach, coming out
of a four game week last week in which you
had a lead in three of the four games, you
finished strong with a big win on Sunday at South Carolina,
But your overall thoughts on how the week went for
(01:22):
the Cats.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Well, I'll start with the things I thought we did
well is our ability to score runs. I mean, when
you look at the game on Tuesday, we scored ten runs,
On Friday we scored nine, We scored four on Saturday,
and answer back yesterday with nine. So I did a
mat there and you can double check me. But that's
an average of eight runs a game. And I think
anytime you can get this late in a year and
(01:45):
you can score eight runs a game for an average,
you want to feel like you got to get at
least a couple of those wins, but unfortunately we didn't.
But our ability, I feel like we got some guys
going really well offensively and to pull out a Sunday win,
especially the back after the back and forth game on
Friday night where you feel like it was right there
(02:06):
in our in our grasp and we didn't pull it out.
I'm definitely happy to come out with a win on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I want to talk about pitching before we really dive
in and talk about some of the top performers at
the plate, because give a call to your bullpen. This
was another weekend where unfortunately you only had one of
your original projected weekend starters and that was Jackson Jelkin.
And yet by Sunday you got some strong efforts from
guys en route to a win. But they also helped
put together innings this weekend to keep the team in games.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I mean, I'll start out with Connor Madison as the start,
but as you mentioned, he gave us a great start
yesterday and we'll get to him in his line. But
Jack SAMs was absolutely fantastic. Two more really good innings
for us yesterday. Jack Bennett did a phenomenal job ira Austin.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
We were able to get him in there.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
He got us four big outs, and I thought Oliver
Boone actually gave us a good start and we get
he got every infielder an opportunity to make a play,
and unfortunately nobody helped them. And you know, looking back
on the week, that is the one thing defensively where
we just did not play well. And we're a team
that when we're pitching right, we're getting really contact, we're
(03:18):
getting infielders involved, and quite frankly, we got to make
plays and we didn't. And but Ryan Mullen was fantastic.
I thought he did a great job. And you know,
so just looking back the guys that we ran out there,
and some guys had better outings than others, but for
the most part, when you just sit there and you
start thinking about how do you how are you going
to fill eighteen innings worth of baseball?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That's a lot. That's a lot to fill.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And those guys I mentioned, along with a couple others,
did a really good job for us.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
How impressed have you been with the progress that Sam's
has made his rookie season in the SEC. Here's a
young man with two more scoreless appearances and he just
continues to when you call his nonmer, he's a guy
that comes in ready to go.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I thought he did a better job too. This week
with his all speed pitches. It's one of those things
where we have brought him along at the right pace,
used him at the right time, and he's continued just
to put his work in and just grow. You know,
he and I visited yesterday before the game some in
the outfield and just you know, he we forget and
I don't know if I've even brought this up to you,
(04:23):
but that he got really sick over a Christmas break
and lost a ton of weight, so he was late
getting started and getting his weight and energy and everything
back underneath him. And we had a really good conversation
before the game about how much he's feeling better. This
is the best he's thrown, and yeah, just happy with him.
And you know, even mentally, Darren like how much he's grown.
(04:46):
When you even ask him from where he was in
the fall to where he is now, it's just tremendous growth.
And give him a lot of credit for all the
time and effort he's put in.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Jack Bennett earned his seventh save on Sunday, and I
know he's had a couple of outings that didn't quite
go the way he wanted them to, but it was
great to see him go back to the form we
saw when he earned six saves prior yesterday, as he
just came in and shut down South Carolina. And I'll
even point out the change up he threw to get
the second out in the ninth inning was just filth.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
As the kid say, yeah it was.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
It was nasty, and he had all the stuff working
and his ability to throw that change up when he
was behind an account. And then also I thought he
and coach Rozelle, they worked together and called a good game.
He established his fastball, Jack's got a good fastball. And
when he does, and he establishes that the cutter was good,
and then the sliders, so you start thinking about he
was throwing his fastball, he threw a cutter, he threw
(05:39):
a slider, he threw a change up, and you know,
coming out of the bullpen, that's just different. You know,
you typically aren't trying to prepare for four and depending
on the two versions of the fastball and maybe five
different pitches. And that's what makes our team great, Darren.
And we got to continue to get more guys just
to pour their stuff into strike zone, eliminate those walks,
get to early contact, let.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Us make plays.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
This is like winning Kentucky Baseball and then move the
game along quick and efficiently.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
And Jack both Jacks did that at the end of
the game last night.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And I know you and I talked Sunday about cleaning
up the errors, and I'm thinking about as you were
talking about being in the zone and cutting down the walks.
Pitching and defense go hand in hand with each other.
And when guys are on the attack, the infielders the
outfielders are engaged. And you also see I guess cleaner
innings that way too.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I mean, Darren, if you were to watch our batting practice,
we have our guys field balls live off the bat.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
We're one of the few teams.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
But this is how we led to country and fielding percentage,
this is years ago. This is how're we've met our
standard a fielding nine to eighty or above or been
right there. And when batning price is going on, I mean,
it's unbelievable the amount of plays we make. But to
your point, there's gaps in the game and focusing concentration
have to improve, and batting practice different. In a game,
(06:53):
you have to execute and get it done when the
game calls all over in the outfield in the infield,
behind the plate, and when we do that like we
did for the most part yesterday outside of one play,
I mean, we're an extremely difficult team to be but
that part definitely has to improve, and the guys are
working on it like we're training them right. They just
(07:13):
need to go out and execute it, and when we do,
we're tough to beat.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
You mentioned Connor Madison already in his line on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Unfortunately, five innings does not show how or four runs
does not show how well he pitched over five innings plus.
But I want to tie him and Jelkin together because
it feels like in the outings where things don't go
their way, it's usually just one inning that kind of
gets away from So from the player development standpoint for
those guys is that the next step is when they
(07:41):
get into those spots, learning how to make you know,
maybe a four run inning only be a one or
two run inning and you cut down and escape those
if that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, I understand what you're saying. And sometimes that's in
their control. Sometimes it's out out of their control. In
this particular outing, yes, we did have a I want
to say a walker in HVP in the beginning that
they got but he got the fly ball that we
didn't make the play. And our sport is so unique there, Madison, Yes,
our sport is so unique that, like scoring issues actually
(08:13):
impact stat lines. And in this particular play, I know
we talked off air. It's like, I think anybody that
watched the game would say that was an error. Now
it wasn't scored an error, but in our mind, that's
an error and that changes the entire outing, It changes
entire stat line. So you know, I actually hurt for
Connor because you look at the stat line and it
was actually affected by one person's decision to change it.
(08:35):
And I think if you were to ask Scott Campbell
junior on our team, he'd be like, oh, I should
easily caught that that was an error and they didn't
score it that way, and the inning's over. And whenever
you give teams multiple outs in one particular inning, they're
going to capitalize. And that's what we do to teams,
and that's what good teams do to each other. And
(08:56):
you just have to put your foot down and make
the next pitch, and then also you have to rely
on your teammates to make a play for you and
you have to pick each other up, So eliminating some
of the walks, the hvps in some of those biginnings
you're referencing, and then our ability to make place behind
him will clean all of that up.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Last question before we take a break, because I know
the fans are going to want me to ask, but
I know it's Monday. Is there anything new regarding guys?
Maybe Hudson Brown and his progress coming back.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Hudson is getting better.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
We spoke today and he's like, Coach, I feel great.
He's you know, he's gained a bunch of weight back,
and he obviously couldn't travel with us this weekend and
he went home to be with his family and he
said his mom just fed him and fed him and
fed It's like there's nothing like home cooked meals. So
he's progressing. Getting Nate checked out again. OJ got some
(09:45):
good news. We can start maybe progressing him some timeline.
Don't know, but it seems like OJ's training right, Huddy's
training right. Nate is getting looked at by the doctors again.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Will Marcy.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
We were able to he couldn't play yesterday, and I
think these next three days are going to be big
for him, so hopefully we can get him back and
available for this upcoming weekend. So on a positive note
and the sun shining bright, let's keep this going.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Guys are trending in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Let's take our first time out here with Coach minjeone
and we'll be back with more in just a moment.
You're on the UK Sports Network final segment for this week.
You're on the Nick Minjeon radio show and Coach right
before the break, you were giving us an update on
some guys that are trying to come back and get
back on the field from injuries or various ailments. And
I would imagine with no midweek game prior to hosting
Tennessee this weekend, that's more opportunities for these guys to
(10:37):
rest and also get ready for the series with Tennessee
this weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
We didn't get back till three o'clock in the morning,
and guys have class and this is our last week
of class. Wednesday is the last day, so they're going
to have off. They head off today and then tomorrow
they're going to get a lift in on their own
and then we'll get back to practice on Wednesday and Thursday.
So this time is been good. You know, our sport
is unique. You play three games and there's hours and
(11:04):
hours on your feet and your bodies, and you're mixing
long bus rides, and so they definitely need it, need
to finish strong.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
We got finals next week, and so.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Proud of our team just for all they've accomplished academically.
But this rest is going to be good for the
guys to get their bodies right and strong for the weekend.
You had some guys with strong performances at the plate,
especially all week, but especially on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I want to start with Jase Tarnish. That young man
had himself a four game week nine hits, hit four
seventy four, five extra base hits counting the Louisville game
seven RBIs. What did you see from his swing this week?
I mean you said it all. I mean what a
stat line now. I mean, by the way, how you
just peeled all that off was impressive. Yesterday he had
(11:51):
all five balls over one hundred.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Miles an hour, but his outs were allowed.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Over one hundred miles an hour every ball five for five.
It's funny that their basement even looks over at.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Me and he's like God, that guy doesn't miss a barrel,
and I didn't. I was like, yeah, let's keep it going.
You know, I didn't know what to say to.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
That, but yeah, just an unbelievable job by Jas. And
you know Jace, you see a smile and they guys
tease him about his white teeth and all this. But man,
what a competitor, Darren, What a competitor. And he was
really honest, and he shared with our team Sunday and
our pregame scouting report like he came to Kentucky because
he wanted to win and he was not gonna just
(12:36):
handle and accept losing and was going to do He
literally said, he does not like to lose, and he
came here to win. And Boi did his performance show
and back what he told the team on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Braxton Van Cleeve homer twice this week at Louisville and
South Carolina. He also drove in the tying run on
Sunday to make it five to five, and then he
scored the winning run on a stolen base in a
couple of errors. Coach, this young man, you've got to
get him to the plate in the eighth or ninth
inning because he has come up with one clutch hit
after another for this team.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I mean, tell me how to do it. I'll make sure.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
But you know, in order to get a clutch hit,
you have to have the guys on in front of you.
And that's what the top of our lineup did yesterday.
I mean, the first five guys in our lineup hads
verse seventeen for twenty in quality appads. It was just
a relentless pursuit of getting on base. And give Brasing credit.
He gets the hits.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Man. He's done in a bunch of different ways.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yesterday was a single, it was a double on last weekend,
and it was a grand Slam on last weekend. So
he's now hit a double, a single, and a homer
grand Slam walk off. But then what about the stolen bases.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Coming to thirty team and going all the way home.
It was awesome. He had to stolen base.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
The second he threw it away, runs the third they
threw it away, he runs home, and look we took
him out after that and we put Carson and Air
to play right field.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
He was like, coach, how was running man?
Speaker 3 (14:03):
You did a good job, And give coach Loan a
lot of credit. Made him steal and forced the opponent
to make a plan and it worked out in our advantage.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Not only was he running around the bases, he also
was diving into the bag. So that was that's where
the updowns payoff, right.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I mean definitely, there's definitely conditioning involved and Brent Jones,
by the way, does a great job with that.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But yeah, that was good.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Tyler Bell was really impressive on Sunday, just his overall approach.
He was on base five times. For the week, he
had four hits and five RBIs. But to get on
base five straight times against South Carolina again, we just
see him take whatever the pitching and defense give him.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, when you think about the level of pitching in
South Carolina, I know you know this.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Their pitching staff was towards the top of the league.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
And on the week, I mean he walked three times
and got hit once, never struck out, and just on
the bases and even Friday night he absolutely crushed them
balls and was five or six and quality of bads.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And ye yesterday again five for five.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Every abat he gave us a good a bat and
was all over the basis.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And laid down a bunch.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I believe it was his first butt of the year
and got a hit out of it. So we made
sure that everyone knows that Tyler Bell is batting a
thousand when he puts a bun in play.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I was going to ask you more specifically to Bells
at bats his strike zone, vision and discipline, because he
has more walks than strikeouts on the year, and we
saw it again yesterday against South Carolina. What have you
seen from him that's some of just learning and being
coached versus just a natural a gift that he sees
(15:38):
the zone will.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah, you know, a lot of it is a gift
and the work he puts in is truly impressive. And
you know, when this is really interesting, I think you'll
like this. And we've never spoke about this, but whenever
someone like does not swing out a pitch, most of
the time people say good take What we say is
good job stopping your swing because hitting, as you know
(16:02):
the old ada y no right like, if they're throwing,
you have very little time to make a decision on
whether or not to swing or not and your ability
to stop your swing. And when you watch Tyler, you
actually see him stop his swing. It's not like this
and sometimes he'll stop his swing super early because he
(16:22):
sees it so early. But if you watch him, he's
hitting and then he's not hitting. And that's what the
best guys can do, is they can absolutely stop their swing,
and that's what he's done at a super high level.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
One other guy I wanted to note to Scott Campbell Junior.
On the week he had four hits, two doubles in
a home run, three RBIs, and he had an outfield
assist over the weekend against South Carolina, is eighth of
the season. You mentioned the adjustment he's made with the
toe tab, but how much of that, too, is just
his ability has caught up to what SEC pitching.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Can present in terms of challenging a hitter.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of that, you know, and
I think the fact that he's in there every day.
You know, he went through a phase at the earlier
year where he's playing every day and then.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
He wasn't in there as much. But he's got an
opportunities and he's.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Taken advantage of it, and the athleticism is impressive. You know,
I was joking with him, but I was actually being serious.
One batting practice to where before the game on Saturday,
he was just hitting line drive after line drive in
the middle of the field. And it's actually the day
he hit his home run. And I just said, Junior,
if you would just do that and have that approach
(17:31):
every day, you can literally legitimately play in the major leagues.
You have five tools. You have the run, to hit
the field, to throw in the power, and if you
can just focus on hitting line drives in the middle
of the field, those are going to turn into home
runs in a game. They're going to turn into your
extra base hits. You don't need to lift it, just
let your ability take over. Like legitimately, his tool set
(17:54):
is incredible, and I glad it worked out. And he's
just looking at me and I'm like, no, you can't,
and you could play in the big leagues. Just do that,
and you know, he kind of smirks and laughs, and
but the.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Talent and skill level is definitely impressive.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Kentucky will host Tennessee this weekend Friday through Sunday at
his Derby weekend, but the Cats will be home against
the Volunteers starting Friday at six point thirty and coach
I wanted to end our show this week as we
got a couple of minutes left on a little fun
note because yesterday the team, a lot of the guys buzzed.
They're great, they've all got great heads of hair, but
a lot of them shaved it or buzzed it, and
(18:32):
it worked out. A couple of them that did it
hit home runs, Tarnish and Cloud. So I got to
ask you, how superstitious are you when.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
It comes to baseball?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
And have you ever done anything yourself to change mojo
or energy?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
I mean, if you remember, I want to say it
was twenty four team. They were doing the beards and
the goate's and they called them beams because Jason Bearnak
and the Red Sox, and they were like, coach, will
you do this with us? And I just said, hey,
as long as you every series, do you keep winning
on the weekend, sure I'll keep it. And I started
growing a little goateee and the mustache.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I remember that. Yeah, So they called them.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Beams and then we lost and I took it off
and I was never so sad to see facial here
go away. But Darren, really, the guys said they wanted
to copy you.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
No, I'm joking. I was telling the sides.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
So yeah, but you don't give Coozzy and Trevor Fitz
they were behind it and they were doing haircuts and
cleaning up and.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Trevor was like, I gotta switch it up.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So Trevor does it well, then one of the players
catches wind and then they see it, and then they
decided to do it and next.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Thing you know. But you're right.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Everybody that played in the game that buzzed their head
did something positive for the team. Jace Tarnish, Luke Lawrence,
Katine Cloud, Ryan Mullen came out of the bullpen, Carson
Hansen came in and made a nice play. Everybody that
buzzed their head. So now it sounds like, uh, there
(19:59):
might be something at play for them to try to
get the coaches to do it.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So stay tuned. We'll see with that.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Hey, it's not weird if it works right, that's exactly right, coach.
We'll see you Friday night at Kentucky Proud Park against
the Volunteers.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Hopefully it'll be a great crowd. Come out and see
ESBB and go Cats.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
This has been the Nickmingji owned show in the UK
Sports Network
The Kentucky Wildcats earned a critical win at South Carolina
on Sunday, and they're hoping that momentum carries over to
this weekend when they host the Tennessee Volunteers at Kentucky
Proud Park. Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Nick Minjion Show.
I'm Darren Heddrick, coach will join us in just a
few minutes. The Wildcats are thirty eight in the latest RPI.
(00:21):
They've got twenty seven wins overall and nine in league
play before this critical showdown with the Balls in Lexington
this weekend coming up. Over the next half hour, we'll
chat with coach Menjeon and get some update on guys
who are hoping to come back this week from various
illnesses or injuries. And we'll also talk to him about
some of the top performers of the week against Louisville
(00:44):
and South Carolina and much more so. Stick around over
the next half hour we'll chat Kentucky baseball with the
head man, Nick Minjeon right here on the UK Sports Network.
Welcome back into the Nick Minjeon radio shows. The Cats
are preparing for a weekend series with Tennessee here at.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Cant Yucky Proud Park.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
That series is brought to you by Forever Long Central,
Kentucky's premium artificial turf dealer. But before we look ahead,
let's look back on last week as Coach slides in
alongside us on the show. Now and Coach, coming out
of a four game week last week in which you
had a lead in three of the four games, you
finished strong with a big win on Sunday at South Carolina,
But your overall thoughts on how the week went for
(01:22):
the Cats.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Well, I'll start with the things I thought we did
well is our ability to score runs. I mean, when
you look at the game on Tuesday, we scored ten runs,
On Friday we scored nine, We scored four on Saturday,
and answer back yesterday with nine. So I did a
mat there and you can double check me. But that's
an average of eight runs a game. And I think
anytime you can get this late in a year and
(01:45):
you can score eight runs a game for an average,
you want to feel like you got to get at
least a couple of those wins, but unfortunately we didn't.
But our ability, I feel like we got some guys
going really well offensively and to pull out a Sunday win,
especially the back after the back and forth game on
Friday night where you feel like it was right there
(02:06):
in our in our grasp and we didn't pull it out.
I'm definitely happy to come out with a win on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I want to talk about pitching before we really dive
in and talk about some of the top performers at
the plate, because give a call to your bullpen. This
was another weekend where unfortunately you only had one of
your original projected weekend starters and that was Jackson Jelkin.
And yet by Sunday you got some strong efforts from
guys en route to a win. But they also helped
put together innings this weekend to keep the team in games.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I mean, I'll start out with Connor Madison as the start,
but as you mentioned, he gave us a great start
yesterday and we'll get to him in his line. But
Jack SAMs was absolutely fantastic. Two more really good innings
for us yesterday. Jack Bennett did a phenomenal job ira Austin.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
We were able to get him in there.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
He got us four big outs, and I thought Oliver
Boone actually gave us a good start and we get
he got every infielder an opportunity to make a play,
and unfortunately nobody helped them. And you know, looking back
on the week, that is the one thing defensively where
we just did not play well. And we're a team
that when we're pitching right, we're getting really contact, we're
(03:18):
getting infielders involved, and quite frankly, we got to make
plays and we didn't. And but Ryan Mullen was fantastic.
I thought he did a great job. And you know,
so just looking back the guys that we ran out there,
and some guys had better outings than others, but for
the most part, when you just sit there and you
start thinking about how do you how are you going
to fill eighteen innings worth of baseball?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That's a lot. That's a lot to fill.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And those guys I mentioned, along with a couple others,
did a really good job for us.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
How impressed have you been with the progress that Sam's
has made his rookie season in the SEC. Here's a
young man with two more scoreless appearances and he just
continues to when you call his nonmer, he's a guy
that comes in ready to go.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I thought he did a better job too. This week
with his all speed pitches. It's one of those things
where we have brought him along at the right pace,
used him at the right time, and he's continued just
to put his work in and just grow. You know,
he and I visited yesterday before the game some in
the outfield and just you know, he we forget and
I don't know if I've even brought this up to you,
(04:23):
but that he got really sick over a Christmas break
and lost a ton of weight, so he was late
getting started and getting his weight and energy and everything
back underneath him. And we had a really good conversation
before the game about how much he's feeling better. This
is the best he's thrown, and yeah, just happy with him.
And you know, even mentally, Darren like how much he's grown.
(04:46):
When you even ask him from where he was in
the fall to where he is now, it's just tremendous growth.
And give him a lot of credit for all the
time and effort he's put in.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Jack Bennett earned his seventh save on Sunday, and I
know he's had a couple of outings that didn't quite
go the way he wanted them to, but it was
great to see him go back to the form we
saw when he earned six saves prior yesterday, as he
just came in and shut down South Carolina. And I'll
even point out the change up he threw to get
the second out in the ninth inning was just filth.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
As the kid say, yeah it was.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
It was nasty, and he had all the stuff working
and his ability to throw that change up when he
was behind an account. And then also I thought he
and coach Rozelle, they worked together and called a good game.
He established his fastball, Jack's got a good fastball. And
when he does, and he establishes that the cutter was good,
and then the sliders, so you start thinking about he
was throwing his fastball, he threw a cutter, he threw
(05:39):
a slider, he threw a change up, and you know,
coming out of the bullpen, that's just different. You know,
you typically aren't trying to prepare for four and depending
on the two versions of the fastball and maybe five
different pitches. And that's what makes our team great, Darren.
And we got to continue to get more guys just
to pour their stuff into strike zone, eliminate those walks,
get to early contact, let.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Us make plays.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
This is like winning Kentucky Baseball and then move the
game along quick and efficiently.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
And Jack both Jacks did that at the end of
the game last night.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And I know you and I talked Sunday about cleaning
up the errors, and I'm thinking about as you were
talking about being in the zone and cutting down the walks.
Pitching and defense go hand in hand with each other.
And when guys are on the attack, the infielders the
outfielders are engaged. And you also see I guess cleaner
innings that way too.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I mean, Darren, if you were to watch our batting practice,
we have our guys field balls live off the bat.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
We're one of the few teams.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
But this is how we led to country and fielding percentage,
this is years ago. This is how're we've met our
standard a fielding nine to eighty or above or been
right there. And when batning price is going on, I mean,
it's unbelievable the amount of plays we make. But to
your point, there's gaps in the game and focusing concentration
have to improve, and batting practice different. In a game,
(06:53):
you have to execute and get it done when the
game calls all over in the outfield in the infield,
behind the plate, and when we do that like we
did for the most part yesterday outside of one play,
I mean, we're an extremely difficult team to be but
that part definitely has to improve, and the guys are
working on it like we're training them right. They just
(07:13):
need to go out and execute it, and when we do,
we're tough to beat.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
You mentioned Connor Madison already in his line on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Unfortunately, five innings does not show how or four runs
does not show how well he pitched over five innings plus.
But I want to tie him and Jelkin together because
it feels like in the outings where things don't go
their way, it's usually just one inning that kind of
gets away from So from the player development standpoint for
those guys is that the next step is when they
(07:41):
get into those spots, learning how to make you know,
maybe a four run inning only be a one or
two run inning and you cut down and escape those
if that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, I understand what you're saying. And sometimes that's in
their control. Sometimes it's out out of their control. In
this particular outing, yes, we did have a I want
to say a walker in HVP in the beginning that
they got but he got the fly ball that we
didn't make the play. And our sport is so unique there, Madison, Yes,
our sport is so unique that, like scoring issues actually
(08:13):
impact stat lines. And in this particular play, I know
we talked off air. It's like, I think anybody that
watched the game would say that was an error. Now
it wasn't scored an error, but in our mind, that's
an error and that changes the entire outing, It changes
entire stat line. So you know, I actually hurt for
Connor because you look at the stat line and it
was actually affected by one person's decision to change it.
(08:35):
And I think if you were to ask Scott Campbell
junior on our team, he'd be like, oh, I should
easily caught that that was an error and they didn't
score it that way, and the inning's over. And whenever
you give teams multiple outs in one particular inning, they're
going to capitalize. And that's what we do to teams,
and that's what good teams do to each other. And
(08:56):
you just have to put your foot down and make
the next pitch, and then also you have to rely
on your teammates to make a play for you and
you have to pick each other up, So eliminating some
of the walks, the hvps in some of those biginnings
you're referencing, and then our ability to make place behind
him will clean all of that up.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Last question before we take a break, because I know
the fans are going to want me to ask, but
I know it's Monday. Is there anything new regarding guys?
Maybe Hudson Brown and his progress coming back.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Hudson is getting better.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
We spoke today and he's like, Coach, I feel great.
He's you know, he's gained a bunch of weight back,
and he obviously couldn't travel with us this weekend and
he went home to be with his family and he
said his mom just fed him and fed him and
fed It's like there's nothing like home cooked meals. So
he's progressing. Getting Nate checked out again. OJ got some
(09:45):
good news. We can start maybe progressing him some timeline.
Don't know, but it seems like OJ's training right, Huddy's
training right. Nate is getting looked at by the doctors again.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Will Marcy.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
We were able to he couldn't play yesterday, and I
think these next three days are going to be big
for him, so hopefully we can get him back and
available for this upcoming weekend. So on a positive note
and the sun shining bright, let's keep this going.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Guys are trending in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Let's take our first time out here with Coach minjeone
and we'll be back with more in just a moment.
You're on the UK Sports Network final segment for this week.
You're on the Nick Minjeon radio show and Coach right
before the break, you were giving us an update on
some guys that are trying to come back and get
back on the field from injuries or various ailments. And
I would imagine with no midweek game prior to hosting
Tennessee this weekend, that's more opportunities for these guys to
(10:37):
rest and also get ready for the series with Tennessee
this weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
We didn't get back till three o'clock in the morning,
and guys have class and this is our last week
of class. Wednesday is the last day, so they're going
to have off. They head off today and then tomorrow
they're going to get a lift in on their own
and then we'll get back to practice on Wednesday and Thursday.
So this time is been good. You know, our sport
is unique. You play three games and there's hours and
(11:04):
hours on your feet and your bodies, and you're mixing
long bus rides, and so they definitely need it, need
to finish strong.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
We got finals next week, and so.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Proud of our team just for all they've accomplished academically.
But this rest is going to be good for the
guys to get their bodies right and strong for the weekend.
You had some guys with strong performances at the plate,
especially all week, but especially on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I want to start with Jase Tarnish. That young man
had himself a four game week nine hits, hit four
seventy four, five extra base hits counting the Louisville game
seven RBIs. What did you see from his swing this week?
I mean you said it all. I mean what a
stat line now. I mean, by the way, how you
just peeled all that off was impressive. Yesterday he had
(11:51):
all five balls over one hundred.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Miles an hour, but his outs were allowed.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Over one hundred miles an hour every ball five for five.
It's funny that their basement even looks over at.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Me and he's like God, that guy doesn't miss a barrel,
and I didn't. I was like, yeah, let's keep it going.
You know, I didn't know what to say to.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
That, but yeah, just an unbelievable job by Jas. And
you know Jace, you see a smile and they guys
tease him about his white teeth and all this. But man,
what a competitor, Darren, What a competitor. And he was
really honest, and he shared with our team Sunday and
our pregame scouting report like he came to Kentucky because
he wanted to win and he was not gonna just
(12:36):
handle and accept losing and was going to do He
literally said, he does not like to lose, and he
came here to win. And Boi did his performance show
and back what he told the team on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Braxton Van Cleeve homer twice this week at Louisville and
South Carolina. He also drove in the tying run on
Sunday to make it five to five, and then he
scored the winning run on a stolen base in a
couple of errors. Coach, this young man, you've got to
get him to the plate in the eighth or ninth
inning because he has come up with one clutch hit
after another for this team.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I mean, tell me how to do it. I'll make sure.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
But you know, in order to get a clutch hit,
you have to have the guys on in front of you.
And that's what the top of our lineup did yesterday.
I mean, the first five guys in our lineup hads
verse seventeen for twenty in quality appads. It was just
a relentless pursuit of getting on base. And give Brasing credit.
He gets the hits.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Man. He's done in a bunch of different ways.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yesterday was a single, it was a double on last weekend,
and it was a grand Slam on last weekend. So
he's now hit a double, a single, and a homer
grand Slam walk off. But then what about the stolen bases.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Coming to thirty team and going all the way home.
It was awesome. He had to stolen base.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
The second he threw it away, runs the third they
threw it away, he runs home, and look we took
him out after that and we put Carson and Air
to play right field.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
He was like, coach, how was running man?
Speaker 3 (14:03):
You did a good job, And give coach Loan a
lot of credit. Made him steal and forced the opponent
to make a plan and it worked out in our advantage.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Not only was he running around the bases, he also
was diving into the bag. So that was that's where
the updowns payoff, right.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I mean definitely, there's definitely conditioning involved and Brent Jones,
by the way, does a great job with that.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But yeah, that was good.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Tyler Bell was really impressive on Sunday, just his overall approach.
He was on base five times. For the week, he
had four hits and five RBIs. But to get on
base five straight times against South Carolina again, we just
see him take whatever the pitching and defense give him.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, when you think about the level of pitching in
South Carolina, I know you know this.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Their pitching staff was towards the top of the league.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
And on the week, I mean he walked three times
and got hit once, never struck out, and just on
the bases and even Friday night he absolutely crushed them
balls and was five or six and quality of bads.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And ye yesterday again five for five.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Every abat he gave us a good a bat and
was all over the basis.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And laid down a bunch.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I believe it was his first butt of the year
and got a hit out of it. So we made
sure that everyone knows that Tyler Bell is batting a
thousand when he puts a bun in play.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I was going to ask you more specifically to Bells
at bats his strike zone, vision and discipline, because he
has more walks than strikeouts on the year, and we
saw it again yesterday against South Carolina. What have you
seen from him that's some of just learning and being
coached versus just a natural a gift that he sees
(15:38):
the zone will.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah, you know, a lot of it is a gift
and the work he puts in is truly impressive. And
you know, when this is really interesting, I think you'll
like this. And we've never spoke about this, but whenever
someone like does not swing out a pitch, most of
the time people say good take What we say is
good job stopping your swing because hitting, as you know
(16:02):
the old ada y no right like, if they're throwing,
you have very little time to make a decision on
whether or not to swing or not and your ability
to stop your swing. And when you watch Tyler, you
actually see him stop his swing. It's not like this
and sometimes he'll stop his swing super early because he
(16:22):
sees it so early. But if you watch him, he's
hitting and then he's not hitting. And that's what the
best guys can do, is they can absolutely stop their swing,
and that's what he's done at a super high level.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
One other guy I wanted to note to Scott Campbell Junior.
On the week he had four hits, two doubles in
a home run, three RBIs, and he had an outfield
assist over the weekend against South Carolina, is eighth of
the season. You mentioned the adjustment he's made with the
toe tab, but how much of that, too, is just
his ability has caught up to what SEC pitching.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Can present in terms of challenging a hitter.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of that, you know, and
I think the fact that he's in there every day.
You know, he went through a phase at the earlier
year where he's playing every day and then.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
He wasn't in there as much. But he's got an
opportunities and he's.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Taken advantage of it, and the athleticism is impressive. You know,
I was joking with him, but I was actually being serious.
One batting practice to where before the game on Saturday,
he was just hitting line drive after line drive in
the middle of the field. And it's actually the day
he hit his home run. And I just said, Junior,
if you would just do that and have that approach
(17:31):
every day, you can literally legitimately play in the major leagues.
You have five tools. You have the run, to hit
the field, to throw in the power, and if you
can just focus on hitting line drives in the middle
of the field, those are going to turn into home
runs in a game. They're going to turn into your
extra base hits. You don't need to lift it, just
let your ability take over. Like legitimately, his tool set
(17:54):
is incredible, and I glad it worked out. And he's
just looking at me and I'm like, no, you can't,
and you could play in the big leagues. Just do that,
and you know, he kind of smirks and laughs, and
but the.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Talent and skill level is definitely impressive.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Kentucky will host Tennessee this weekend Friday through Sunday at
his Derby weekend, but the Cats will be home against
the Volunteers starting Friday at six point thirty and coach
I wanted to end our show this week as we
got a couple of minutes left on a little fun
note because yesterday the team, a lot of the guys buzzed.
They're great, they've all got great heads of hair, but
a lot of them shaved it or buzzed it, and
(18:32):
it worked out. A couple of them that did it
hit home runs, Tarnish and Cloud. So I got to
ask you, how superstitious are you when.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
It comes to baseball?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
And have you ever done anything yourself to change mojo
or energy?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
I mean, if you remember, I want to say it
was twenty four team. They were doing the beards and
the goate's and they called them beams because Jason Bearnak
and the Red Sox, and they were like, coach, will
you do this with us? And I just said, hey,
as long as you every series, do you keep winning
on the weekend, sure I'll keep it. And I started
growing a little goateee and the mustache.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I remember that. Yeah, So they called them.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Beams and then we lost and I took it off
and I was never so sad to see facial here
go away. But Darren, really, the guys said they wanted
to copy you.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
No, I'm joking. I was telling the sides.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
So yeah, but you don't give Coozzy and Trevor Fitz
they were behind it and they were doing haircuts and
cleaning up and.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Trevor was like, I gotta switch it up.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So Trevor does it well, then one of the players
catches wind and then they see it, and then they
decided to do it and next.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Thing you know. But you're right.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Everybody that played in the game that buzzed their head
did something positive for the team. Jace Tarnish, Luke Lawrence,
Katine Cloud, Ryan Mullen came out of the bullpen, Carson
Hansen came in and made a nice play. Everybody that
buzzed their head. So now it sounds like, uh, there
(19:59):
might be something at play for them to try to
get the coaches to do it.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So stay tuned. We'll see with that.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Hey, it's not weird if it works right, that's exactly right, coach.
We'll see you Friday night at Kentucky Proud Park against
the Volunteers.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Hopefully it'll be a great crowd. Come out and see
ESBB and go Cats.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
This has been the Nickmingji owned show in the UK
Sports Network
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