April 7, 2026 • 20 mins
Darren Headrick talks with Head Coach Nick Mingione
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, Welcome into another edition of the Nick Menjeon
Show here on the UK Sports Network. The Wildcats are
coming off a two and two week and they're getting
ready to host the Louisville Cardinals tomorrow night at Kentucky
Proud Park. We want you to take note of the
special start time for this game. Five point thirty will
be the first pitch. We'll be on the air at
five point fifteen with the pregame show. We'll chat with
(00:20):
coach to break down the matchup with the Cards tomorrow night.
And the game is brought to you by Kentucky Farm
Bureau Insurance as the Cats and Cards round one tomorrow night,
before the Wildcats load up the bus and head down
to Auburn, Alabama to take on the Tigers third straight week.
The Cats will take on a group called the Tigers
as they've played LSU Missouri this past week, and we'll
(00:42):
talk about the Wildcats series with Missouri with the head coach.
He's in the house with us. We'll visit with him
when we come back. Stick around. This is the Nick
menji Oon Show here on the UK Sports Network. Welcome
back into the Nick menje Oon Show, everybody. I'm Darren Hedrick,
joined by the head coach of the Kentucky baseball team.
The Wildcats are twenty three and eight overall in the season,
six and six in the sec IS. They've got Louisville
(01:03):
and a trip to Auburn on deck this week. But
before we talk about what's ahead for the Wildcats, let's
look back on the weekend and kind of recap a
tough series coach against the Missouri Tigers.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Just your overall thoughts.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I know there were some positive things coming out of
the series, but overall your thoughts on dropping two out
of three against.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Missouri, Well, I'll say this, Our sport is really weird
because you can do so many things right and and
not go well for you. So if you tell me
before the series started, hey, you're gonna give up seven
earned runs in three games in college baseball with aluminum bats,
would you sign up for that?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I'm like, yes, sign me up.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Seven earned runs And really you can argue that there
was maybe four.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So unfortunately we.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Didn't make enough plays, plenty of traffic on the basis,
hit some balls absolutely hard. It was one of those
weekends where and this is going to happen, where you
know what your two plays away from being three and
oh three and oh two plays like, so you hear
me talk a lot about the margin of victory is
really small, and quite frankly, we had tons of traffic.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
If you told me before the.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Weekend that we're either gonna we were gonna have twenty
seven walks in hbps and that we're gonna play a
game yesterday where we hit fourteen balls ninety five miles
an hour or harder, and we walked more than we
struck out. We had nine walks in hbps to three strikeouts,
and you're gonna hit fourteen balls ninety five miles and
(02:33):
a hard I'm like, we're winning, We're gonna win the game,
and unfortunately we didn't.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And the margin of victory is really small.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
And sometimes in our sport, as you know, you can
do everything right and it just doesn't go your way.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Coach, you've already touched on it a little bit. But
I heard you speaking to the media after the game
Sunday and you were talking about how you were pleased
with the at bats overall, and you talked about the
QUAB standard, which is quality at bats quab QAB. What
did you like, what did you see that you liked
from your team Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
So this year, when you go back and look at
the season, we've lost two games all year where we
reach our quality at back goal and.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
We hit that standard.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
We hit fourteen balls ninety five miles on our harder
and give them credit, they were standing in the right spot.
And you know when hitting is a real finicky thing,
as you know, because you can look up and you say, man,
we didn't get a ton of hits. Well, you can't
control whether or not you get hits. What you can
control is how hard you hit the ball, in the
quality of your a bat, you have control over that.
(03:30):
So what you can do is you can when that
ball comes in, your job is just to hit it
clean on the barrel, and once it leaves your barrel,
you have no control over that. It's like the weirdest sport, right,
So you can do everything right and it doesn't go
your way. And I mean we hit multiple We hit
a couple of balls one hundred and six miles an
hour with the right ball flight, and they made the plays.
(03:53):
So you just at some point sometimes you just have
to go, hey, you tip your cap like you literally
did everything you could and it just didn't go your way.
And this is one of those times because you've heard
me say, hey, listen, this was a situation where we're
striking out way too much. I mean, like, but that
wasn't the case. Like we managed. We got on base
at almost a four hundred. We were at a three
(04:13):
to ninety clip. And you start getting on base that much,
then yes, you need to get to hit. But before
you get a hit, like, you have to hit them
ball hard, like we have control over that, and we
did that. We walked, like I said, it was nine.
I believe you can check me, but I think it
was nine walks and hpps combined to just three strikeouts.
And so they were super competitive in the box. And
(04:36):
sometimes that happens and it just doesn't go your way,
and this was one of those cases.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
How is a coach, especially in the league like the SEC,
where you know it's going to be a grind for
ten weeks, how do you help them through the lulls
and the mental side of the game where it's like, hey,
your swing's good. The results might not have been there,
but the swing's good, stay with it.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
How do you help them through that?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yeah, so you know this, but do you know what
major league record he holds? Qus this little baseball trivia?
Come on, Darren, have you it's the Dodgers.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yes, yes, come on, I'm putting on a spot. Let me.
Let me have it going through my mind, all the
different stuff.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
He holds the major league record for consecutive scoreless innings,
the nine. How about that against the best players in
the world. And they asked them, how do you do it?
How did you do that? Fifty nine consecutive scoreless innings?
And he said, I didn't worry about the results. I
focused on the execution. That's all I did. So every pitch,
(05:38):
every inning, I just focused on executing that pitch. And
I believed over time, if I kept executing my pitch,
executing my pitch, executing my pitch, that it was going
to stack up and things were going to go my way. So,
because if I told you right now, hey, look you
got to go fifty night, like that's a huge mountain
of climb, right, Well, how do you do that? You
just focus on execution, And that's all the guys could
(06:00):
control is like, did they give us a good at bat?
Did they execute what they were trying to do? And
then let's not worry about the results. And I think
that's so important because, as you know, even in life,
like you can do everything right and some things just
don't go your way.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
But like, all you can do is all you can do.
And if they gave.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Us everything, it had an adi bat, they did what
they were supposed to, then we're just going to live
with the result. But we know over time that if
you keep executing and executing, it's going to eventually things
are going to go your way.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, I was just trying to actually, I was thinking
about as you were talking about that. I'll give you
an example from the weekend of just what you're saying.
You look at Tyler Bell's numbers against missouris two for eight,
but he had a home run, he drew what was it,
four walks, which was tied for the most on the
team against the Tigers, he stole three bases. He still
had what you would consider a great weekend at the plate.
(06:48):
But you know, two for eight, you look at that.
That's why stats don't always show you everything.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, And that's.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Why it is about winning the game, and it's about
executing and doing what it takes.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
To win the game.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
And sometimes we say, ugly works, right, So maybe we
hit a ball seventy seven miles an hour and it
loops over the guy's head and we get ahead, and
it's like, hey, ugly works right, Like it wasn't ninety five,
but it was seventy seven. So you do have to
win the game. And we didn't do enough things defensively
to help us win the game. And multiple games, you know,
(07:20):
we're a couple plays away and a couple pitches away
and a couple hits away. And that's what's so awesome
about our conference is like, hey, man, like, that's what
it's gonna come down to. You're gonna look up and
it's gonna be two or three plays or pitches or
at bats that you're just like, man, And unfortunately we
didn't execute those, and therefore, like, you don't win the game,
and that's the goal is to win.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You led me right to where I was going to
go next with the defense, because just a couple of
plays like you mentioned here or there, and I know
that left the team frustrated at the end of the day.
But at the same time, I think the silver lining
is those are fixable and they're quick fixes, right.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, And you know this, Darren, So I don't need
to tell you anything you don't know. But when you
feel like you have to be perfect, that's a bad feeling.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, right, there's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, you just like you don't have to do that,
you have to play free, and it's just like just
do I give Ethan Hindle a lot of credit.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
He says after the game.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Like I had the opportunity to let the guys talk
and share, get some of their thoughts, and because I
think it's super important for them to understand why it
didn't go. So I did something yesterday where I'm like, hey,
I want to hear from you guys, like what why
didn't we win this game? And one of the things
Ethan Hindle said was really smart. He's like, we didn't
force our will and do what the game demanded enough,
(08:43):
And the game was demanding that, hey, we've got to
make this player getting out like we have to.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
We didn't do that, Like, we didn't do that enough.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
And when you don't do that, it's you put yourself
in a really difficult spot, you know. So defensively, there's
a couple of plays that I think you know, all
the guys as would want back, and we would look
up and the series would be different. And you know,
we fielded higher, we had a better fielding pertender than
our opponent, all these things, but quite frankly, that doesn't
it doesn't matter because you got to win the game.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
We'll talk about some pitchers in the next segment, because
there was some guys that had great performances and some
others that took some big time steps forward with a
solid outing against Missouri. But real quick, I just want
to go back to the lineup. You and I talked
last week on your radio show about how you construct
a lineup based on the best chance to score runs
and also the best defense you can put out there.
(09:35):
And I know in the past with your teams, it
seems like you could go the ballpark any day and
you know where guys are in the lineup, you know
who's in the lineup. But this year there's been some
ebbs and flows and injuries. How have you navigated that
as you've tried to get the lineup that you thought
you would have preseason.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Yeah, the injuries definitely play a factor, but every team
has injuries. Yeah, right, So getting Tyler back to play
shortstop has been huge.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
It's been huge.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
And then obviously some of the injuries we had early
on with Serni and Marcy and some of these other
things have made it a real challenge. So getting guys
comfortable and back in there in their normal positions and
getting them opportunities has been a real challenge because you know,
now you're sitting there and you're looking up and you're like, man,
we've got four outfitters that we want to give opportunities to. Right,
(10:28):
there's five infielders that we want to give opportunities to,
and how do you mix those in? It's just like, man,
it's hard. It's hard to because we have really good players,
so the fun to mix. And then also you know,
there's baseball is a sport where it's like the more
you can get in there on a regular basis, the
easier it is to get comfortable. So how much leach
and how much space do you give guys? But Tyler
(10:49):
getting back has been a big help, and just thankful
that he's able to play.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
I think we're running along on this segment, but real
quick staying with the lineups. She got Scott Campbell Junior
back in there. How fun was it to see him
just take full advantage of that opportunity in two games
this weekend.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, super happy for him.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
And I didn't realize that that was a second Grand Slam.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, were a huge hit on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And then the defense is undeniable, the arm strength, his
ability to catch balls and in the outfield. But yeah,
just super happy for it. And Darren he's been an
awesome teammate like he had been. To be preparing for
that and the guys to watch them celebrate him was
really neat.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Let's take a time out. We'll be back with more
here on the Nick Menji oone radio show. We'll switch
over and talk about the pitchers when we come back.
This is the UK Sports Network final segment of the
Nick Menji Oonne Show for this week, as the Wildcats
get set to host the Louisville Cardinals tomorrow night at
Kentucky Proud Park.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It is a five thirty first pitch.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
We'll be on the air at five point fifteen in
the game is presented by Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance. Kentucky
will be at Auburn this week and it marks the
halfway point of SEC play. Coach, can you believe we're
at the halfway point already in league play been crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I'm looking forward to having the final three at home
then on the road.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
No doubt about it. It's a really fun schedule for
fans coming up in the back half of the SEC campaign.
You've got Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Arkansas all coming to Kentucky
Proud Park in the back half of the league schedule
after that road trip to Auburn, So we look forward
to that. Coach, let's talk about some pitching performances from
this past weekend. I want to start with the birthday boy,
(12:27):
Nate Harris. Happy birthday to Nate today. He looked strong
on Saturday, especially being aggressive with his fastball.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah, he threw the ball great, and you know, that
was one of the things his teammates challenging him with
is just being more aggressive and having a better presence
on the mound. And to his credit, he did that.
He definitely established his fastball and everything else worked off
of that. But at the same time, just the look.
You know, we talk about our pictures being a tip
(12:54):
of the spear and having a presence on the mound
and a competitive spirit, and Nate's certainly brought that and
it was a really good adjustment from the week before,
and it was definitely an outing that our team needed, especially.
I thought Jackson Jokin threw the ball well. He had
one rough inning where again just to play away from
that inning being over it, we didn't make it and
(13:16):
he just settled in and was able to still get
a seven strong innings. So two great starts there on
Friday and Saturday.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I know you and I have talked about Ben Cleaver plenty.
It was nice to see him get through four. But
also that curveball yesterday was stout for him. It was
probably the best at slicked this year.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yeah, and he was able to land it to both
lefties and righties, which was key. And yeah, we again
he is just each week it's like you could just
see him getting a little better and a little better,
and he continues to get back.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I thought the cutter was good.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
He got his fastball and he was able to move
it around the entire zone.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
He was able to get in some on righty's.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
He was able to get it up and away, which
is him at his best sometimes where fastball just takes
off on him.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So he did a good job.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
He's definitely getting better and we need him to keep building.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
How big was that.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Fourth inning for him to work through that when they
put some traffic on the basis against him and he
was able to minimize and get out of that fourth inning.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah, we've seen it this year where he hasn't been
able to do that, So for him to get that
and do that was definitely a huge step forward.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Your bullpen also put together a strong weekend against Missouri overall,
only two runs allowed in ten and the third innings.
What did you see from the relief corps.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Just their ability to First of all, we use a
bunch of different guys, and I thought that is good.
Like when we're able to just use a bunch of
different guys and use him for a shorter stints, you
know this like managing a bullpen, that's how you keep
them fresh. So I thought we threw really good pitches.
(14:50):
Like you know, I've said this all along and our
team knows this, but the strength of our bullpen is
the different looks that we have. We have the straight
over to, we have the drop down.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I mean we literally you can go.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
All through the clock talking about Susie and then Layton
Harris and you know, we just have a bunch of
different arm angles, and we were able to land not
only our fastballs, but we have lent a second and
for some guys a third pitch in the strike zone,
WHI was key.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Chase Alderman went to scoreless innings on Sunday. It was
his second appearance of the week when you count the
outing against Miami of Ohio. And I know he hasn't
pitched in a while because of injuries. So the more
reps he gets, the stronger he's looking out there.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
He does.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
And you know, I think the couple weeks where maybe
he didn't throw and just let his arm just kind
of calm down a little bit and get itself has
been good. And then he's really embraced a role of
being in the bullpen. And you know, obviously starting was
different for him, especially coming off the injuries, and his
just ability to just have that mindset of I'm going
(15:53):
to attack for as long as hard as you need
me to go, but in this short stint, just give
you everything.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Half it's been really big.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
What's the journey been like for Chase to overcome those injuries,
do all the rehab. Obviously he's in shape, but then
getting into pitching shape on the mound and getting comfortable
with everything in his mechanics.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, when you think about his indignities of his injuries,
he obviously had to Tommy John at Eastern Kentucky and
so to come back from an elbow injury and then
have to come back from an acl So it's like
you have an upper body and a lower body injury,
and each of those are totally different. How you have
(16:34):
to manage that and mentally just can be absolutely draining.
Anybody that's ever had a surgery knows there is a
mental component that like you just have to power through,
and he had to do that twice. And then to
your point, just to be able to get on a
mountain and throw is one thing. Then to be able
to execute pitches is another thing, and then another thing
(16:54):
to be able to understand and control the game, whether
it's the running game, fielding your position, your backup, all
the little details and nuances that go into actually having
a clean inning. It's been really good for him in
a long road, but one that he's been faithful to
and he's a very disciplined person.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
A couple of other guys that stood out this weekend.
You gave a lot of opportunities to the bullpen. But
Ira Austin had a scoreless inning and he's put together
some scoreless appearances. How have you seen him adapt his
game to the SEC level?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, he's so unique because in a lot of ways,
he's two pitchers in one. Yeah, because he's doing the
drop downside arm and he's throwing over top. And when
Ira is clicking on both of those, the down below
and on the top, he is.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
A very difficult and uncomfortable at bat.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
And we have just made the decision that we're gonna
throw him, and he's gonna throw. He's gonna throw multiple
times in a week. If it's two, three, four times
in a week, like, don't be surprised.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Like, so, we've just made a commitment. And when you
for guys that throw and those are mangle, you just
need to pitch more.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, Like there's a feel to this and he's been
able to put together a couple of good outings here
and fire the ball for us.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Well.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
The Wildcats will be home tomorrow night against the Louisville Cardinals. Again,
take note of that five thirty start time, just a
little bit earlier than normal on a Tuesday night. Coach
and I will break down the matchup with the Cardinals
on the pre game tomorrow, but as we got a
couple of minutes left in the show, here just give
us kind of a preview of you know, coach McDonald,
anytime you take on the Cardinals, what are some things
(18:31):
you look for?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
One thing I know is we've played some long games.
I mean, am I missing on that chase play some
long games?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
So not that I don't know. Maybe fans like that
because they do, that's more baseball for them to watch.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
But the Cats are scoring runs.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah, so obviously they lost the series this past weekend
much like we did. And but you know, for us,
the biggest thing that we have to do is like
when we take control of a baseball game and we
are the ones that are being the aggressors and we
are the ones that are on the attack and doing
all that, that's us at our best.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And that's what I want to see tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
And I I want to see us take control of
a baseball game and stay on the attack.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
On all three ends of the ball.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
From our pitching a defensive and then offensively, I want
us to get some timely hits and when we're under
the attack and we're aggressive. That's us at our best.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Last question I'll get to you for this week, Coach
on the show. You've got several homegrown talents or just
Kentucky natives on this roster. How have you seen the
popularity of baseball grow within the Bluegrass state?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, that's that's been really neat.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
You mentioned we mentioned a guy like Chase Alderman and
Leyton Harris and Berkeley Bounds and Owen Jenkins. Right like,
we have some guys that are like from right here
in our state and so that game means a lot
to them, of course. But yeah, just to watch and
to be able to see, like when when you can
(20:05):
add people from your state that have the talent and
skill level to play at this level, that's definitely a
good thing. And I know their families will be excited
for the game tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Cats and Cards tomorrow night at Kentucky Proud Park. We
look forward to seeing everyone there and bring your bring
your radio and listen in on the broadcast here on
the UK Sports Network. We'll start at five point fifteen. Coach,
always great to visit with you. We'll see you tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Thank you, go Katz.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
That's head coach Nick Minjeon, and this has been the
Nick Minjeon Show, a part of the UK Sports Network
Hello everybody, Welcome into another edition of the Nick Menjeon
Show here on the UK Sports Network. The Wildcats are
coming off a two and two week and they're getting
ready to host the Louisville Cardinals tomorrow night at Kentucky
Proud Park. We want you to take note of the
special start time for this game. Five point thirty will
be the first pitch. We'll be on the air at
five point fifteen with the pregame show. We'll chat with
(00:20):
coach to break down the matchup with the Cards tomorrow night.
And the game is brought to you by Kentucky Farm
Bureau Insurance as the Cats and Cards round one tomorrow night,
before the Wildcats load up the bus and head down
to Auburn, Alabama to take on the Tigers third straight week.
The Cats will take on a group called the Tigers
as they've played LSU Missouri this past week, and we'll
(00:42):
talk about the Wildcats series with Missouri with the head coach.
He's in the house with us. We'll visit with him
when we come back. Stick around. This is the Nick
menji Oon Show here on the UK Sports Network. Welcome
back into the Nick menje Oon Show, everybody. I'm Darren Hedrick,
joined by the head coach of the Kentucky baseball team.
The Wildcats are twenty three and eight overall in the season,
six and six in the sec IS. They've got Louisville
(01:03):
and a trip to Auburn on deck this week. But
before we talk about what's ahead for the Wildcats, let's
look back on the weekend and kind of recap a
tough series coach against the Missouri Tigers.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Just your overall thoughts.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I know there were some positive things coming out of
the series, but overall your thoughts on dropping two out
of three against.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Missouri, Well, I'll say this, Our sport is really weird
because you can do so many things right and and
not go well for you. So if you tell me
before the series started, hey, you're gonna give up seven
earned runs in three games in college baseball with aluminum bats,
would you sign up for that?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I'm like, yes, sign me up.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Seven earned runs And really you can argue that there
was maybe four.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So unfortunately we.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Didn't make enough plays, plenty of traffic on the basis,
hit some balls absolutely hard. It was one of those
weekends where and this is going to happen, where you
know what your two plays away from being three and
oh three and oh two plays like, so you hear
me talk a lot about the margin of victory is
really small, and quite frankly, we had tons of traffic.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
If you told me before the.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Weekend that we're either gonna we were gonna have twenty
seven walks in hbps and that we're gonna play a
game yesterday where we hit fourteen balls ninety five miles
an hour or harder, and we walked more than we
struck out. We had nine walks in hbps to three strikeouts,
and you're gonna hit fourteen balls ninety five miles and
(02:33):
a hard I'm like, we're winning, We're gonna win the game,
and unfortunately we didn't.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And the margin of victory is really small.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
And sometimes in our sport, as you know, you can
do everything right and it just doesn't go your way.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Coach, you've already touched on it a little bit. But
I heard you speaking to the media after the game
Sunday and you were talking about how you were pleased
with the at bats overall, and you talked about the
QUAB standard, which is quality at bats quab QAB. What
did you like, what did you see that you liked
from your team Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
So this year, when you go back and look at
the season, we've lost two games all year where we
reach our quality at back goal and.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
We hit that standard.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
We hit fourteen balls ninety five miles on our harder
and give them credit, they were standing in the right spot.
And you know when hitting is a real finicky thing,
as you know, because you can look up and you say, man,
we didn't get a ton of hits. Well, you can't
control whether or not you get hits. What you can
control is how hard you hit the ball, in the
quality of your a bat, you have control over that.
(03:30):
So what you can do is you can when that
ball comes in, your job is just to hit it
clean on the barrel, and once it leaves your barrel,
you have no control over that. It's like the weirdest sport, right,
So you can do everything right and it doesn't go
your way. And I mean we hit multiple We hit
a couple of balls one hundred and six miles an
hour with the right ball flight, and they made the plays.
(03:53):
So you just at some point sometimes you just have
to go, hey, you tip your cap like you literally
did everything you could and it just didn't go your way.
And this is one of those times because you've heard
me say, hey, listen, this was a situation where we're
striking out way too much. I mean, like, but that
wasn't the case. Like we managed. We got on base
at almost a four hundred. We were at a three
(04:13):
to ninety clip. And you start getting on base that much,
then yes, you need to get to hit. But before
you get a hit, like, you have to hit them
ball hard, like we have control over that, and we
did that. We walked, like I said, it was nine.
I believe you can check me, but I think it
was nine walks and hpps combined to just three strikeouts.
And so they were super competitive in the box. And
(04:36):
sometimes that happens and it just doesn't go your way,
and this was one of those cases.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
How is a coach, especially in the league like the SEC,
where you know it's going to be a grind for
ten weeks, how do you help them through the lulls
and the mental side of the game where it's like, hey,
your swing's good. The results might not have been there,
but the swing's good, stay with it.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
How do you help them through that?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yeah, so you know this, but do you know what
major league record he holds? Qus this little baseball trivia?
Come on, Darren, have you it's the Dodgers.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yes, yes, come on, I'm putting on a spot. Let me.
Let me have it going through my mind, all the
different stuff.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
He holds the major league record for consecutive scoreless innings,
the nine. How about that against the best players in
the world. And they asked them, how do you do it?
How did you do that? Fifty nine consecutive scoreless innings?
And he said, I didn't worry about the results. I
focused on the execution. That's all I did. So every pitch,
(05:38):
every inning, I just focused on executing that pitch. And
I believed over time, if I kept executing my pitch,
executing my pitch, executing my pitch, that it was going
to stack up and things were going to go my way. So,
because if I told you right now, hey, look you
got to go fifty night, like that's a huge mountain
of climb, right, Well, how do you do that? You
just focus on execution, And that's all the guys could
(06:00):
control is like, did they give us a good at bat?
Did they execute what they were trying to do? And
then let's not worry about the results. And I think
that's so important because, as you know, even in life,
like you can do everything right and some things just
don't go your way.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
But like, all you can do is all you can do.
And if they gave.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Us everything, it had an adi bat, they did what
they were supposed to, then we're just going to live
with the result. But we know over time that if
you keep executing and executing, it's going to eventually things
are going to go your way.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, I was just trying to actually, I was thinking
about as you were talking about that. I'll give you
an example from the weekend of just what you're saying.
You look at Tyler Bell's numbers against missouris two for eight,
but he had a home run, he drew what was it,
four walks, which was tied for the most on the
team against the Tigers, he stole three bases. He still
had what you would consider a great weekend at the plate.
(06:48):
But you know, two for eight, you look at that.
That's why stats don't always show you everything.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, And that's.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Why it is about winning the game, and it's about
executing and doing what it takes.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
To win the game.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
And sometimes we say, ugly works, right, So maybe we
hit a ball seventy seven miles an hour and it
loops over the guy's head and we get ahead, and
it's like, hey, ugly works right, Like it wasn't ninety five,
but it was seventy seven. So you do have to
win the game. And we didn't do enough things defensively
to help us win the game. And multiple games, you know,
(07:20):
we're a couple plays away and a couple pitches away
and a couple hits away. And that's what's so awesome
about our conference is like, hey, man, like, that's what
it's gonna come down to. You're gonna look up and
it's gonna be two or three plays or pitches or
at bats that you're just like, man, And unfortunately we
didn't execute those, and therefore, like, you don't win the game,
and that's the goal is to win.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You led me right to where I was going to
go next with the defense, because just a couple of
plays like you mentioned here or there, and I know
that left the team frustrated at the end of the day.
But at the same time, I think the silver lining
is those are fixable and they're quick fixes, right.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, And you know this, Darren, So I don't need
to tell you anything you don't know. But when you
feel like you have to be perfect, that's a bad feeling.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, right, there's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, you just like you don't have to do that,
you have to play free, and it's just like just
do I give Ethan Hindle a lot of credit.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
He says after the game.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Like I had the opportunity to let the guys talk
and share, get some of their thoughts, and because I
think it's super important for them to understand why it
didn't go. So I did something yesterday where I'm like, hey,
I want to hear from you guys, like what why
didn't we win this game? And one of the things
Ethan Hindle said was really smart. He's like, we didn't
force our will and do what the game demanded enough,
(08:43):
And the game was demanding that, hey, we've got to
make this player getting out like we have to.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
We didn't do that, Like, we didn't do that enough.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
And when you don't do that, it's you put yourself
in a really difficult spot, you know. So defensively, there's
a couple of plays that I think you know, all
the guys as would want back, and we would look
up and the series would be different. And you know,
we fielded higher, we had a better fielding pertender than
our opponent, all these things, but quite frankly, that doesn't
it doesn't matter because you got to win the game.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
We'll talk about some pitchers in the next segment, because
there was some guys that had great performances and some
others that took some big time steps forward with a
solid outing against Missouri. But real quick, I just want
to go back to the lineup. You and I talked
last week on your radio show about how you construct
a lineup based on the best chance to score runs
and also the best defense you can put out there.
(09:35):
And I know in the past with your teams, it
seems like you could go the ballpark any day and
you know where guys are in the lineup, you know
who's in the lineup. But this year there's been some
ebbs and flows and injuries. How have you navigated that
as you've tried to get the lineup that you thought
you would have preseason.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Yeah, the injuries definitely play a factor, but every team
has injuries. Yeah, right, So getting Tyler back to play
shortstop has been huge.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
It's been huge.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
And then obviously some of the injuries we had early
on with Serni and Marcy and some of these other
things have made it a real challenge. So getting guys
comfortable and back in there in their normal positions and
getting them opportunities has been a real challenge because you know,
now you're sitting there and you're looking up and you're like, man,
we've got four outfitters that we want to give opportunities to. Right,
(10:28):
there's five infielders that we want to give opportunities to,
and how do you mix those in? It's just like, man,
it's hard. It's hard to because we have really good players,
so the fun to mix. And then also you know,
there's baseball is a sport where it's like the more
you can get in there on a regular basis, the
easier it is to get comfortable. So how much leach
and how much space do you give guys? But Tyler
(10:49):
getting back has been a big help, and just thankful
that he's able to play.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
I think we're running along on this segment, but real
quick staying with the lineups. She got Scott Campbell Junior
back in there. How fun was it to see him
just take full advantage of that opportunity in two games
this weekend.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, super happy for him.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
And I didn't realize that that was a second Grand Slam.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, were a huge hit on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And then the defense is undeniable, the arm strength, his
ability to catch balls and in the outfield. But yeah,
just super happy for it. And Darren he's been an
awesome teammate like he had been. To be preparing for
that and the guys to watch them celebrate him was
really neat.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Let's take a time out. We'll be back with more
here on the Nick Menji oone radio show. We'll switch
over and talk about the pitchers when we come back.
This is the UK Sports Network final segment of the
Nick Menji Oonne Show for this week, as the Wildcats
get set to host the Louisville Cardinals tomorrow night at
Kentucky Proud Park.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It is a five thirty first pitch.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
We'll be on the air at five point fifteen in
the game is presented by Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance. Kentucky
will be at Auburn this week and it marks the
halfway point of SEC play. Coach, can you believe we're
at the halfway point already in league play been crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I'm looking forward to having the final three at home
then on the road.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
No doubt about it. It's a really fun schedule for
fans coming up in the back half of the SEC campaign.
You've got Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Arkansas all coming to Kentucky
Proud Park in the back half of the league schedule
after that road trip to Auburn, So we look forward
to that. Coach, let's talk about some pitching performances from
this past weekend. I want to start with the birthday boy,
(12:27):
Nate Harris. Happy birthday to Nate today. He looked strong
on Saturday, especially being aggressive with his fastball.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah, he threw the ball great, and you know, that
was one of the things his teammates challenging him with
is just being more aggressive and having a better presence
on the mound. And to his credit, he did that.
He definitely established his fastball and everything else worked off
of that. But at the same time, just the look.
You know, we talk about our pictures being a tip
(12:54):
of the spear and having a presence on the mound
and a competitive spirit, and Nate's certainly brought that and
it was a really good adjustment from the week before,
and it was definitely an outing that our team needed, especially.
I thought Jackson Jokin threw the ball well. He had
one rough inning where again just to play away from
that inning being over it, we didn't make it and
(13:16):
he just settled in and was able to still get
a seven strong innings. So two great starts there on
Friday and Saturday.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I know you and I have talked about Ben Cleaver plenty.
It was nice to see him get through four. But
also that curveball yesterday was stout for him. It was
probably the best at slicked this year.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yeah, and he was able to land it to both
lefties and righties, which was key. And yeah, we again
he is just each week it's like you could just
see him getting a little better and a little better,
and he continues to get back.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I thought the cutter was good.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
He got his fastball and he was able to move
it around the entire zone.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
He was able to get in some on righty's.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
He was able to get it up and away, which
is him at his best sometimes where fastball just takes
off on him.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So he did a good job.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
He's definitely getting better and we need him to keep building.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
How big was that.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Fourth inning for him to work through that when they
put some traffic on the basis against him and he
was able to minimize and get out of that fourth inning.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah, we've seen it this year where he hasn't been
able to do that, So for him to get that
and do that was definitely a huge step forward.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Your bullpen also put together a strong weekend against Missouri overall,
only two runs allowed in ten and the third innings.
What did you see from the relief corps.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Just their ability to First of all, we use a
bunch of different guys, and I thought that is good.
Like when we're able to just use a bunch of
different guys and use him for a shorter stints, you
know this like managing a bullpen, that's how you keep
them fresh. So I thought we threw really good pitches.
(14:50):
Like you know, I've said this all along and our
team knows this, but the strength of our bullpen is
the different looks that we have. We have the straight
over to, we have the drop down.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I mean we literally you can go.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
All through the clock talking about Susie and then Layton
Harris and you know, we just have a bunch of
different arm angles, and we were able to land not
only our fastballs, but we have lent a second and
for some guys a third pitch in the strike zone,
WHI was key.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Chase Alderman went to scoreless innings on Sunday. It was
his second appearance of the week when you count the
outing against Miami of Ohio. And I know he hasn't
pitched in a while because of injuries. So the more
reps he gets, the stronger he's looking out there.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
He does.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
And you know, I think the couple weeks where maybe
he didn't throw and just let his arm just kind
of calm down a little bit and get itself has
been good. And then he's really embraced a role of
being in the bullpen. And you know, obviously starting was
different for him, especially coming off the injuries, and his
just ability to just have that mindset of I'm going
(15:53):
to attack for as long as hard as you need
me to go, but in this short stint, just give
you everything.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Half it's been really big.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
What's the journey been like for Chase to overcome those injuries,
do all the rehab. Obviously he's in shape, but then
getting into pitching shape on the mound and getting comfortable
with everything in his mechanics.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, when you think about his indignities of his injuries,
he obviously had to Tommy John at Eastern Kentucky and
so to come back from an elbow injury and then
have to come back from an acl So it's like
you have an upper body and a lower body injury,
and each of those are totally different. How you have
(16:34):
to manage that and mentally just can be absolutely draining.
Anybody that's ever had a surgery knows there is a
mental component that like you just have to power through,
and he had to do that twice. And then to
your point, just to be able to get on a
mountain and throw is one thing. Then to be able
to execute pitches is another thing, and then another thing
(16:54):
to be able to understand and control the game, whether
it's the running game, fielding your position, your backup, all
the little details and nuances that go into actually having
a clean inning. It's been really good for him in
a long road, but one that he's been faithful to
and he's a very disciplined person.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
A couple of other guys that stood out this weekend.
You gave a lot of opportunities to the bullpen. But
Ira Austin had a scoreless inning and he's put together
some scoreless appearances. How have you seen him adapt his
game to the SEC level?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, he's so unique because in a lot of ways,
he's two pitchers in one. Yeah, because he's doing the
drop downside arm and he's throwing over top. And when
Ira is clicking on both of those, the down below
and on the top, he is.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
A very difficult and uncomfortable at bat.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
And we have just made the decision that we're gonna
throw him, and he's gonna throw. He's gonna throw multiple
times in a week. If it's two, three, four times
in a week, like, don't be surprised.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Like, so, we've just made a commitment. And when you
for guys that throw and those are mangle, you just
need to pitch more.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, Like there's a feel to this and he's been
able to put together a couple of good outings here
and fire the ball for us.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Well.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
The Wildcats will be home tomorrow night against the Louisville Cardinals. Again,
take note of that five thirty start time, just a
little bit earlier than normal on a Tuesday night. Coach
and I will break down the matchup with the Cardinals
on the pre game tomorrow, but as we got a
couple of minutes left in the show, here just give
us kind of a preview of you know, coach McDonald,
anytime you take on the Cardinals, what are some things
(18:31):
you look for?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
One thing I know is we've played some long games.
I mean, am I missing on that chase play some
long games?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
So not that I don't know. Maybe fans like that
because they do, that's more baseball for them to watch.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
But the Cats are scoring runs.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah, so obviously they lost the series this past weekend
much like we did. And but you know, for us,
the biggest thing that we have to do is like
when we take control of a baseball game and we
are the ones that are being the aggressors and we
are the ones that are on the attack and doing
all that, that's us at our best.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And that's what I want to see tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
And I I want to see us take control of
a baseball game and stay on the attack.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
On all three ends of the ball.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
From our pitching a defensive and then offensively, I want
us to get some timely hits and when we're under
the attack and we're aggressive. That's us at our best.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Last question I'll get to you for this week, Coach
on the show. You've got several homegrown talents or just
Kentucky natives on this roster. How have you seen the
popularity of baseball grow within the Bluegrass state?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, that's that's been really neat.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
You mentioned we mentioned a guy like Chase Alderman and
Leyton Harris and Berkeley Bounds and Owen Jenkins. Right like,
we have some guys that are like from right here
in our state and so that game means a lot
to them, of course. But yeah, just to watch and
to be able to see, like when when you can
(20:05):
add people from your state that have the talent and
skill level to play at this level, that's definitely a
good thing. And I know their families will be excited
for the game tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Cats and Cards tomorrow night at Kentucky Proud Park. We
look forward to seeing everyone there and bring your bring
your radio and listen in on the broadcast here on
the UK Sports Network. We'll start at five point fifteen. Coach,
always great to visit with you. We'll see you tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Thank you, go Katz.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
That's head coach Nick Minjeon, and this has been the
Nick Minjeon Show, a part of the UK Sports Network
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