March 10, 2026 • 29 mins
Darren Headrick talks with Head Coach Nick Mingione
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Nick Vinchion Show on the UK sport
Snatchworth have a question for coach Spincheon tweeted two at
UK sport Snatchwork. Now alongside the coach, Here's Doe Hooyes
of UK Baseball Darren.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hendrick sec Play begins this week for Kentucky Baseball and
we are excited to bring back another edition another season
of the Nick MinJe oone radio show. Hello everybody, I'm
Darren Hedrick, coach will be along in just a few minutes.
The Wildcats are coming off a five to ozer week
(00:38):
as they swept EKU and the Midweek, winning Tuesday and Wednesday,
and then coming back this weekend to take all three
from the Citadel. A lot of runs scored, a lot
of great offense this week, including two inside the park
home runs. The Wildcats are now fourteen and two, they've
won ninth straight and they're up to number twenty one
in the latest D one Baseball poll. Coming up over
(00:59):
the next half hour visit with coach Menzeona bout his team.
We'll talk about some of those exciting plays and some
big time performances on the mound as well. You're listening
to the Nick menje Oon show here on the UK
Sports Network.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Imagine yourself in a new Toyota like the best selling
all hybrid Toyota Camry. Now through March thirty first you
can get four point ninety nine APR financing on any
new twenty six camera or Lisa new well equipped camera
Elie for just two sixty nine a month for thirty
six months with thirty six ninety nine do it signing
with approved credit through TFS Tax, Title and License Extra.
(01:34):
Call one eight eight eight thirty six Toyota for details
or go to Toyota dot com Toyota Let's Go Places.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Trent Noah Ukman's basketball player here. I needed a bank
that would work with my business schedule, which is why
I chose Fort Bank. They offer instant issue debit cards.
When you open an account in a branch or, you
can open one online at fortbank dot Com. I can
easily manage my account through their app. Plus, if I
need to speak to a tailor, They're available from seven
am to se seven pm Monday through Saturday with on
(02:02):
demand banking. Fort Bank stays on top of their game,
so I can stay on top of mind.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Message in data rates may apply if hopening something to
approval for bank.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Remember repeice, Hey, this is trendoah and I bank with
fort Bank.
Speaker 6 (02:12):
Life, liberty and the pursuit of instant cash. Play the
Big Bill games from the Kentucky Lottery. Fill your wallet
with chances to win prizes up to five hundred thousand
dollars with scratch offs like Lincoln, Jefferson and Jackson. Or
tap into instant excitement with Park's Triple Play Online Big Bills.
Speaker 7 (02:31):
Mean big thrills.
Speaker 6 (02:32):
Play it's you a local Kentucky Lottery retailer or online
today visit kwylottery dot com for gave details.
Speaker 7 (02:39):
Please play responsibly, Kentucky. Remember it's just a game. Did
you know?
Speaker 8 (02:43):
Former Kentucky basketball coach John Maller is credited with developing
the boutch pass. Of course, you don't need to be
a basketball coach to know that sometimes in life, football
just doesn't bound your way, like when a storm or
accident damages your property. That's why so Kentucky's rely on
Kentucky Farm Bureau for their insurance needs. You might say
(03:05):
we have more than a passing interest in helping out
folks in the commonwealth. Kentucky Farm Bureau big on commitment.
Speaker 9 (03:12):
With the money they saved and earned by enrolling in
lg and E and KU's new energy efficiency programs like
online marketplace and bring your own thermostat. Frank was able
to buy a pigmy goat, Sheila got bagpipes, Harry bought
ten pounds of Monk's head cheese, Christy learned the watusi
and the macharina, and Bruce he bought a bicycle because
(03:34):
he's just out there. Sign up now to earn money
and save for whatever you're into. Visit lgedeshku dot com slash.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Save uh oh brah.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's buzzed.
Speaker 10 (03:44):
Oh yeah, yeah, he's starting with the woots.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
And now a speech.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I just want to say that friendship is about heart,
art and brain.
Speaker 7 (03:55):
Who's with me?
Speaker 10 (03:56):
Good thing is he knows when he's buzzed, and.
Speaker 6 (03:58):
My brain is saying when it's time to go home,
somebody call me a ride.
Speaker 11 (04:03):
Love that guy, me too, know your buzzed warning signs,
call for a ride when it's time to go home.
Buzz driving is drunk driving. A message FORMITZA and the
ad Council.
Speaker 12 (04:12):
Oh right, all right, it's a beautiful day for football
here at the stadium and we're just about ready for
kickoff score zero zero and suddenly I'm in the mood
for a.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
Coke zero sugar Real Coke Taste zero Sugar. No, that's
a winning combo, Yeah.
Speaker 13 (04:31):
Chris, refreshing that hits the spy. When it comes to
great taste, Coke zero sugar is always on the scoreboard.
Coke zero sugar Real Coke Taste zero Sugar.
Speaker 14 (04:42):
The new DQ Crispy Onion Cheeseburger seven dollars meal deal
has everything you could want and more. First, there's the
juicy cheeseburger that comes with melty cheese and crunchy crispy onions.
Oh and a full size order of fries and a
drink and a Sunday And did we mention that it's
all just seven bucks At participating DQ locations, enjoy every
(05:04):
and with the new Crispy Onion Cheezburger seven dollars meal
deal here for a limited time right now at DQ
Happy Taste Good.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Welcome back into the Nick Nings you Own show here
on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 7 (05:16):
I'm Darren Hedrick.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
We've got the head coach with us excited for another
season of our radio show as the Wildcats open SEC
play against Alabama this weekend. But first, coach, let's talk
about an exciting weekend for your group. Really overall a
great week going five and zero. This team played exceptionally
well at times this weekend or this week.
Speaker 15 (05:34):
Yeah, I give you guys a lot of credit. You know,
at the end of our game yesterday, you know, we
have transfers in our program. And I said, all right,
raise your hand if you're in another program last year.
And they raised your hand and I said, okay, now
keep your hand up if you went five and oh
in a week before.
Speaker 7 (05:50):
And a lot of hands went down.
Speaker 15 (05:52):
So and the reason why I bring that up is
was just a good reminder of it's really hard to
win baseball games in college. So all the parody is incredible,
but to go five and zero is a whole nother thing.
And give the guys a lot of credit. We had
to use a lot of players to make that.
Speaker 7 (06:07):
Happen, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And looking at your non conference overall, you're fourteen and
two as you get ready for league play to start.
Three sweeps in your non conference weekend eleven and one
overall in the non conference weekend series. What impressed you
the most about the way this team went about its business.
Speaker 15 (06:24):
Well, you know, going back to the very first weekend.
You know, we were on the road the first two
weekends and we actually played double headers, which no college baseball.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
Coach is ever signing up for that.
Speaker 15 (06:35):
But this time of year and the country, if you remember,
with all the rain and the snow and the ice.
But for us to win both of those series, to
sweep the first weekend and then to lose a one
to nothing game at Evansville on the second game of
a double header. So now looking back into the two
home series, for us to sweep both teams was obviously big,
(06:57):
and you know that we did it them in different
ways that you hear me say that a lot. You know,
coming into conference play, I want our team to experience everything,
to come from behind, win, get ahead, stay ahead, build
your lead, the tie game to come.
Speaker 7 (07:10):
You know, all those things.
Speaker 15 (07:11):
And I really feel like we got just about all
that in what we haven't gotten in as a rain delay,
which none of us want to, but we had to
delay a game because our range.
Speaker 7 (07:20):
So we've experienced a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
In this non conference This weekend, you experienced a lot
in a series against the Citadel winning ten to five,
twelve to seven, and thirteen to five. All those featured
comebacks by the Citadel, but then a punch back by
your team. What did you what were your biggest takeaways
with the way this team just would not let the
Citadel wrestle control of those games away.
Speaker 15 (07:42):
Yeah, I think anytime that you can have your team
come back right and then do it at different times
to have to come back, so it's one thing to
have to come back and you know, the first three
or four innings, it's another thing to come back in
the middle of the game, but then it's another thing
to have to come back late. And we had to
do that, and we did it in different ways. So
(08:04):
for us to get the lead and then to give
it up, which you're never happy about, right, but at
the same time, you know, to be able to come
back and just take control of the game, and you're
only able to do that if your players can execute
at a high level, and we certainly did that well.
Speaker 7 (08:20):
Coach.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
One of the big storylines in the series this weekend
against the Citadel was the return of infielder Tyler Bell
from the injury. He was the designated hitter for all
three games against the Bulldogs. What did you see out
of him at the plate, because he got looks from
both sides this weekend.
Speaker 15 (08:35):
Just his presence, Yeah, I mean, and give our fans
so much credit. His first at bat, the ovation that
they gave him.
Speaker 7 (08:46):
We had a runner at third and one of our
players is like coaches, is really cool.
Speaker 15 (08:52):
Just for our fans to recognize how special And I
think anytime you have somebody to the player of his caliber,
let alone just the injury that he had to overcome, right,
So just you combine all that, all the emotions he
comes up with the bases loaded and just a really
neat deal and opportunity for him to come back, and
(09:13):
our fans recognize him.
Speaker 7 (09:14):
But they're just his presence.
Speaker 15 (09:15):
I mean when you look at those comebacks, he's in
the middle of every single one of those. And then
his ability to put the game away with his home
run late in the first game, right, so he can
impact us in so many ways. He you know, has
a shorter lead. We don't want him diving back at first.
Of course he does it, and we're like Tyler and
I look at him and give him the look. But yeah,
(09:36):
his presence, he just makes our team better and they
feed off of him, and so to be able to
get him back was certainly big. And I'm convinced that
he is the main reason why we were able to
even come back in those baseball games.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Coach, he has such a mature, professional approach and the
way he goes about things during the injury. How did
you see him use that to help his teammates in
the dug.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
Yeah, so we have a chart and we did this with.
Speaker 15 (10:03):
Grant Smith and Ryan Waldschmid in the fall. You remember
they had those injuries and Waldy the year he was
a first rounder. Darren he missed the entire fall because
he was up in the Cape had the knee injury,
and we just made a commitment that we were going
to help him get better. So what they would do
is they would literally chart every pitch at our pitcher
through so in inner squads, those guys instead of getting
(10:25):
their three to five plate appearances, they were getting thirty
and forty plate appearances.
Speaker 7 (10:30):
Because they're in every abbat.
Speaker 15 (10:32):
And we did the same for Tyler and he and
I had a really cool conversation after the game yesterday
and he just said, Coach, I really feel like charting
every one of those pitches. So if the pitcher threw
a fastball, he would mark it down was a fastball,
but not only was it a fastball, what location of
the plate was it? Was it a foul ball? Was
it a swing and miss? So Tyler has done that
for the last three weeks. He has charted every pitch
(10:54):
and he's gotten forty plate appearances, roughly forty play appearances.
He was in one hundred and two when he have
ats every weekend and he says to me, he's like, coach,
that really helped me. Well, then he started taking notes
on our players and he started telling them things about
their swings. Oh, that's great, and he just served our
team and he is like, as he would tell you,
(11:15):
he's a leader by example. But he just sat there
and charted and did every single pitcheon. Next thing you know,
you look up and he's in the middle of all
these big backs and he's like, coach, I'm convinced that
really helped me. And so he did something that former
players did, made himself better, and as a result, he
made the team better and at the same time he
made himself better.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Well, coach, those former players were special, and he certainly
is too.
Speaker 7 (11:38):
But let's talk about the other side of that.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
With Bell sidelined for the moment, not playing the infield,
you've put Luke Lawrence over to short and Ethan Handle
at second. How have those two stepped up and risen
to the occasion defensively in the infield?
Speaker 15 (11:51):
Yeah, and you know to your point, you know, losing
Tyler the first weekend, well, first game, well we also
have Serny that's been out.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 15 (12:01):
So now all of a sudden, our left side of
the infield is not there, so we have to take
Luke and move them the short. And that was a
difficult night that first game of the year, just winning
the first game but then losing Tyler sure, and having
to just go through our staff.
Speaker 7 (12:16):
And I give our staff a lot of credit.
Speaker 15 (12:18):
Before the season started, Darren, we went through every single
position and we said, okay, who's the first guy here,
who's the second guy here?
Speaker 7 (12:26):
And then we set our.
Speaker 15 (12:27):
Team and we said, okay, if this is the opening
day lineup, if someone wants.
Speaker 7 (12:30):
To get hurt, who would play here?
Speaker 15 (12:31):
But would it be if it was a short term injury,
who would play? But if it was a long term injury,
who would play right, because that changes things, Right, is
it going to be a game or two or is
it going to be weeks and months? And so we
picked Luke because he's obviously played shortstop and he could
settle the team. So he's done an unbelievable job. And
then you look up and then the job that Hindle
has done at second base is incredible. Cerney was doing
(12:55):
his deal and then next thing you know, now we
got Kid and Cloud in there. So it's like, you know,
if you sit there and you think about the amount
of people we've played. We have played six different guys
and they've all done a great job and respectively have
handled their positions well.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Another guy that had a big performance this weekend, but
I feel like he's performed well all season, has been
Jace Tarnish, your center fielder. You guys got him out
of the portal. What excites you the most? And has
he lived up to what the hype you were giving
in the fall so far?
Speaker 15 (13:27):
I mean, I think, you know, here's a guy that's
in Division one, he hit over four hundred and still
over thirty five.
Speaker 7 (13:34):
How about that?
Speaker 15 (13:36):
It's like it doesn't matter like anyone's like I don't
care what division.
Speaker 7 (13:39):
If you hit over four hundred, you're pretty good. You're
pretty good.
Speaker 15 (13:44):
And he has certainly lived up to that and if not,
maybe more. I mean, if you look at what he's
done on the base pass, his ability to hit his
billy score runs. He has speed and power, Darren. That
is really hard to find, as you know when you
can find.
Speaker 7 (13:59):
Speed in power.
Speaker 15 (14:01):
So he's we've figured out, We've hitten him all over
our lineup, like where do we hit him? But he's
settled in the leadoff spot and I really believe that's
the spot that he needs to be at because he
can impact a game in so many ways. In the
second he gets on first base is still in base,
thread is always there.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Absolutely watch BBN Tonight, presented by UK Healthcare, every weeknight
at seven thirty on wl EX here in Lexington. Fans
can also watch archive shows at bbntonight dot com.
Speaker 7 (14:27):
Let's take a quick time out.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
We'll have another segment with coach Vinji on when we
come back here on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 7 (14:33):
When might you be buzzed?
Speaker 11 (14:34):
When you suddenly love everything you guys?
Speaker 4 (14:38):
I love this song, I love these notchos all, I
love our kickball league. Oh, I love this guy.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
What's your name? You know what? I'd love a ride
when it's time to head out.
Speaker 11 (14:52):
If you see a buzzed warning sign, call for a
ride when it's time to go home. Buzz driving is
drunk driving. A message from NITZA and the AD Council.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
I love your car? Is this real lever?
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Oh right, all right.
Speaker 12 (15:04):
It's a beautiful day for football here at the stadium
and we're just about ready for kickoff, score zero zero,
And suddenly I'm in the mood for a Coke zero
sugar Real Coke Taste zero sugar.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
No, that's a winning combo.
Speaker 13 (15:21):
Yeah, Chris, refreshing that hits the spot when it comes
to great taste.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Coke zero sugar is always on the scoreboard. Coke zero sugar,
Real Coke Taste zero sugar.
Speaker 16 (15:33):
Hey, BBN, Coach Pope. Here in Kentucky, big blue determination.
Speaker 7 (15:39):
Is in our blood.
Speaker 16 (15:40):
It means we rise together, we fight together, and we
win together, whether we're making a run for a banner
or taking on our state's biggest healthcare challenges. Big blue determination.
It's why UK Healthcare is the official healthcare partner of
UK Athletics.
Speaker 17 (16:03):
Chevy trucks have you covered when the road takes you
from smooth sailing to Chevy Colorado will eat up some
of the toughest terrains with five available drive modes, and
Silverado and Silverado HD have the muscle to take you
out for some serious with multiple engine options and impressive towing,
while Silverado EV is the perfect combo of performance and capability,
making it a snap to hitch up this electric truck
(16:25):
and hit the road wherever the road leads. Chevy trucks
are right there with you. Chevrolet Together, let's drive.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
Those baseline tips or not.
Speaker 18 (16:34):
Athleen UK Athletics would like to bank our official cornerstone partners,
Central Bank, the official bank of UK Athletics, Kentucky Farm
Bureau Insurance, Big On Commitment and UK Healthcare, official healthcare
partner of Big Blue Nation STO.
Speaker 15 (16:48):
Kentucky Cool Pas, take the warning track, Walk Alive in Kentucky,
go some seven to two.
Speaker 18 (16:56):
Once again, thank you to our official cornerstone partners who
play a vital role in the success of the University
of Kentucky Athletics program.
Speaker 10 (17:04):
Flight by Yingling. It's the next generation of light beer.
For those who don't follow trends, but craft them. Flight
by Yingling is twelve ounces of uncompromised refreshment from America's
oldest brewery with only two point six grams of carbs
and ninety five calories. This is premium refreshment six generations
in the making. They'll just raise a glass, raise the bar.
(17:27):
Flight by Yingling available wherever beer is sold DJ Yingling
and so unincorporated Potsviell Pennsylvania. Please enjoy responsibly.
Speaker 7 (17:34):
Hello's fall, Kentucky Running. Put the bucket life up it
in Hi. This is otago away from Kentucky Basketball.
Speaker 19 (17:40):
I like to thank our official cornerstone partners, Central Bank,
the official bank of UK Athletics, Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance,
Big On Commitment and UK Healthcare, the official healthcare partner
of Big Blue Nation.
Speaker 7 (17:51):
Makes the catch in traffic, goes up fours and a.
Speaker 19 (17:54):
Foul one more time. A big thank you to our
official cornerstone partners. Our success on the court starts with
their support of new CA Athletic.
Speaker 20 (18:03):
Hey Deglue Nation. Looking to get closer to the teams,
coaches and student athletes you love, It's time to go
all in with BBN United, the ultimate way to support
Kentucky student athletes and show off your pride. With a
BBN United membership, You'll be invited to watch exclusive player
and coach content, access one of a kind ban experiences,
Get ukfam Merchant delivered to your door and be part
of something bigger than the game. Sign up for BBN
(18:26):
United at bbnunited dot com. UK Athletics Official fan Loyalty
program where passion fuels purpose.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Imagine yourself in a new Toyota like the world's best
selling vehicle, the all New All Hybrid twenty twenty six
Toyota rab Board Now through March thirty first get four
point nine to nine APR financing on a new grab
board or Lisa Well equipped rab or l E for
just two ninety nine a month for thirty six months
with thirty nine ninety nine two it's signing with a
(18:53):
proof credit through TFS, Tax, Title and License Extra. Call
one eight eight eight thirty six Toyota for details or
go to Toyota Toyota.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
Let's go places.
Speaker 21 (19:02):
Thinking about digging, planning a tree, putting up a fence,
hold that shovel before you break ground.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Head to Kentucky eight one one dot org or.
Speaker 21 (19:10):
Call eight one one it's quick, it's free, and yep,
it's the law. Submit your request online or call before
you Dig member Utility pros well mark where the underground
lines are. Don't risk the injury, service outages, penalties, or
costly repairs. Safety is in your hands.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Eight one to one Before You Dig Sponsored by the
Kentucky Public Service Commission.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Final segment of the Nick Man Jeones Show for this
week as the Wildcats prepare for Alabama this weekend. And
we talked a lot about the position players in our
last segment, so we'll talk pitching here in this segment.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
I know coach Minjium.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Loves to talk about his pitchers, but before we do,
I have to go back to Caden Cloud real quick,
because we've seen this young man come up with some huge,
huge hits for you to pick up some victories. But
yesterday a really fun moment you've visited with him before
in that just a quick time out and then all
of a sudden, the very next pitch, he just clobbers
into the bullpen for his first home run. And I
(20:14):
know a lot of the fans were texts were tweeting, calling,
texting like what did you say.
Speaker 7 (20:19):
To him for that?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
But No, it was a really cool moment to see
you visit with him and then all of a sudden, bam,
huge home run.
Speaker 7 (20:26):
Well you're calling that, by the way, It was incredible.
Speaker 15 (20:29):
And I got text messages where people bottle up and
sell it.
Speaker 7 (20:34):
Why can't it be that easy? I mean, why don't
you do that all the time? Man? I was just like, boy,
did he make us look good all the time? Coach?
Speaker 15 (20:45):
You know, Caden is a special player, and he's really talented,
and we have other freshmen that are really good players
that haven't gotten on the field as much. And but
you know his previous ibat if you remember he did
the check swing and put the ball in play first
that at bat he does a check swing, it almost puts.
Speaker 7 (21:02):
It in play.
Speaker 15 (21:03):
Yeah, And with Caden, like we all have areas of
our body language where you can read and you can
tell someone's frustration right, Well, his is on his face.
You could just see it in his face. Sometimes you
see it in people's shoulders. Sometimes you see it in
their posture, sometimes you see it in their hands.
Speaker 7 (21:18):
Like, well, you could see it on his face and
he was.
Speaker 15 (21:21):
Really bothered by this wing. So I'm like, okay, time out.
I'm gonna give him a little breather, and we had
a quick conversation. I just let him walk through what
was maybe off, and then I just reminded him that
he was a dog and that he was special and
he can do this, and like, stay on go, you
got this, and just encouraged him. And you know, look,
(21:42):
I was jogging back to the coaching box right and
like this is just real. I'm like talking about a
coach box. I'm like, oh Lord, please help this way,
Please make this work, Please.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
Make this work.
Speaker 15 (21:51):
And sure enough, next bitch, I'm just like, oh my goodness.
And his smile coming around third is just just another
reason why I love coaching, is because you just get
to see guys in their pure joy and happiness.
Speaker 7 (22:06):
And that was a cool moment. That was a cool moment.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
All right, Well, let's talk about some of the pitchers.
I wanted to lead off with a guy who made
multiple appearances against the Citadel this weekend. He's been a
huge addition to your staff because of how he can
pitch in multiple roles, and that's Jack Bennett. He had
four and two thirds scoreless this weekend with five strikeouts.
Speaker 15 (22:24):
Yeah, he's special, and I think anytime you can bring
somebody like that into your program that has weekend starting
experience like he's had, it has been special. And this
team right now is full of guys. When you bring
in the talented freshman class that we bring in and
then you put in the transfers that are in there,
they're all going to do different things that they maybe
(22:47):
never done before. So I had Jack, I said, hey, Jack,
have you ever pitched twice in a weekend before? He's like,
never in my life. And I go, well, you did
it pretty good. Yeah, you did it at a very
high level. And I say all that because Jack's heart,
it is beautiful. Literally came here, don't make no mistake
about it. He would love to start right. But he
was made it really clear that number one Kentucky was
(23:09):
his dream school. This is where he wanted to be
and that he would do anything that we'd ask him
to do.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
To help the team. And that's what he's done, and
he's done it at a very high level.
Speaker 15 (23:18):
And you know, anytime I always say this, the most
important pitture on our team is the one that's on
the mound at that time. And anytime you can hand
the ball to somebody like that who cares that much
that players have so much respect for. He works his
butt off, he does all these things to have him
go out and have that success. No one surprised. But
at the same time, it goes back to him in
(23:38):
his heart and his ability to land multiple pitches. He
moves his fastball in and out as you saw his
I mean, he is just a strike throwing machine and
a guy that's really poisoned those moments.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I know, there's a lot of excitement from the fans
about your weekend rotation. Overall, Now, Jackson Jelkin didn't have
the result he wanted against the Citadel, but overall he
has been such a pleasure to watch. I mean, he's
worth the price of admission on Friday nights.
Speaker 7 (24:01):
You know, going into Friday night, I think he had
a point five to five.
Speaker 22 (24:04):
Yeah, like yeah, but yeah, he is a guy that's
really grown and you know, coming off the timing John
surgery that he had at Euston, and we brought him
in last spring and he coached first base for us
and served our.
Speaker 7 (24:17):
Team in any way he could.
Speaker 15 (24:18):
And but the job that you know he's done for
us really has given us a chance to win on
every Friday night.
Speaker 7 (24:25):
It's it's power stuff.
Speaker 15 (24:27):
As you know, it's ninety five to ninety seven miles
an hour, he's throwing ninety mile an hour change ups.
I mean, it's it's electric stuff.
Speaker 7 (24:34):
And to your point, I.
Speaker 15 (24:35):
Mean, at any point in time, you're going to see
something power and you're going to see a guy that's
competing at a high level.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
We talked about Bell's professional approach. What have you seen
out of Jackson? Then the way he approaches his bullpens
with coach Roselle and the staff, and the way he
approaches his starts.
Speaker 15 (24:51):
Yeah, he is a guy that he is in tune
with his body. He has a lot of thoughts on
what he should do and shouldn't do. But he is
a guy that he is just he wants to work okay,
and he understands that in order to throw hard, you
gotta throw hard.
Speaker 7 (25:10):
Right.
Speaker 15 (25:11):
So if you watch him in his catch play, I
mean he's letting Darren, he's letting balls rip, and he
has tremendous feeling confidence. The biggest thing that I can
say about Jackson at this point is his ability to
make adjustments. For example, if he misses high and arm
side with a fastball.
Speaker 7 (25:27):
He can boom fix it the next pitch.
Speaker 15 (25:31):
If he holds onto a slider too long and he
rips it down, he can make the adjustment next pitch.
So his ability to understand what his body's doing through
space and his ability to make super quick adjustments has
been good. And then obviously the curveball is just special, right,
The fastball movement profile is special, But his understanding of
(25:51):
his body and how it works.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
One guy that I was excited to see somehow, every
time I would come to watch your scrimmages in the fall,
I would miss Austin fourth and then so I hadn't
got to see him in the fall, and then so
far this year, because of the crossover season with women's basketball,
I hadn't got to watch him pitch.
Speaker 7 (26:09):
Finally did yesterday.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Man, he's fun to watch the side arm and that
gives such a unique angle for hitters, especially when you
use him late in games.
Speaker 15 (26:17):
Yeah, to your point, I mean to be ninety two
from down here, yes side just the movement and the
horizontal movement he's getting, and then you know, yesterday I
thought this was special. He falls behind with the side arms,
so then he just proceeds to go straight over top,
and so it's basically the same velocity over top and
lands a breaking ball and then decides, Hey, I'm gonna
(26:39):
go down here, and then I'm gonna tease him with
a slider here, and then I'm gonna come.
Speaker 7 (26:42):
Just his ability to change arm angles is.
Speaker 15 (26:44):
Good, and then stuff is just power stuff with the velo,
the shape of the curveball, the shape of the slider,
He's literally Darren his fastball is moving and his slider
he's covering the whole plate. And then over top he's
got the fastball does this and the curveball that does
this is really two pitch.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, And I know when I could ask you what
excites you most about your staff overall, but you and
I talk about it all the time. It's just the
different angles and the different directions that you show hitters
through the course of the weekend series. And that'll be
big against Alabama this weekend.
Speaker 7 (27:14):
Yeah, it will be.
Speaker 15 (27:15):
I mean when you think about you got Ira from
over here, right, and then you can go all the
way around the clock and you got Sussi from up here,
you got Leyton Harris from over here. So it's like
we're working our way around there, and you have all
the different armslots, Ryan Mullen straight over top. I mean,
you just go through and you just list every guy,
Nate Harris, where benk Cleaver is.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
And to me, that's our best thing is when we
change pictures, we actually change pictures.
Speaker 15 (27:38):
We don't bring in another six to four aridy that
throws from the same armslot, that has the same slider. Yeah,
and we're we have the ability to do that, and
that's what makes our staff special is that the guys
that have to stand in a box, they're not seeing
the same movement in shape profile every time, which in
a lot of programs that's how it is. You're just
they're changing pictures, but it's the same guy stuff wise,
(27:59):
and that's not the case with our staff.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Coach, we just got a little over a minute left
in our show. You have Ball State tomorrow night at
six thirty. I think the weather should be pretty good
at Kentucky Proud Park, So come on out and catch
the Cats against Ball State.
Speaker 7 (28:11):
But then SEC play begins.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I just wanted to take this last minute of the
show and kind of get your thoughts on what you
expect out of the league this year now that we're
getting into SEC play so much parody.
Speaker 15 (28:20):
I mean, you just sit there and you look up
and down in our league and I think, you know,
Reeves last night was checking the scores and I had
a nice dinner together, and he's like, Dad, like, let's
just see what other teams in our league did. And
so I said, Hey, just check the top twenty five.
He's like, Dad, how many teams in our league are
ranked in the top twenty five.
Speaker 7 (28:38):
I said, take a guess. He's like ten. I go, Reeves,
it's eleven.
Speaker 15 (28:40):
Yeah, eleven of our teams are ranked in the top
twenty five, including the Cats.
Speaker 7 (28:45):
Cats.
Speaker 15 (28:45):
That's right, and so I just expect parody in some
really close games. As we saw last year, the margin
and victory is super small, and you got to execute
at a high level.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Well, coach, it's our first show of the week. We're
done with this one ball State tomorrow night at Kentucky
Proud Park and we'll see you there.
Speaker 7 (28:59):
Thank you, you go Cats. That's Nick Menjiona.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
This has been the Nick Manngeones Show here on the
UK Sports Network.
This is the Nick Vinchion Show on the UK sport
Snatchworth have a question for coach Spincheon tweeted two at
UK sport Snatchwork. Now alongside the coach, Here's Doe Hooyes
of UK Baseball Darren.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hendrick sec Play begins this week for Kentucky Baseball and
we are excited to bring back another edition another season
of the Nick MinJe oone radio show. Hello everybody, I'm
Darren Hedrick, coach will be along in just a few minutes.
The Wildcats are coming off a five to ozer week
(00:38):
as they swept EKU and the Midweek, winning Tuesday and Wednesday,
and then coming back this weekend to take all three
from the Citadel. A lot of runs scored, a lot
of great offense this week, including two inside the park
home runs. The Wildcats are now fourteen and two, they've
won ninth straight and they're up to number twenty one
in the latest D one Baseball poll. Coming up over
(00:59):
the next half hour visit with coach Menzeona bout his team.
We'll talk about some of those exciting plays and some
big time performances on the mound as well. You're listening
to the Nick menje Oon show here on the UK
Sports Network.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Imagine yourself in a new Toyota like the best selling
all hybrid Toyota Camry. Now through March thirty first you
can get four point ninety nine APR financing on any
new twenty six camera or Lisa new well equipped camera
Elie for just two sixty nine a month for thirty
six months with thirty six ninety nine do it signing
with approved credit through TFS Tax, Title and License Extra.
(01:34):
Call one eight eight eight thirty six Toyota for details
or go to Toyota dot com Toyota Let's Go Places.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Trent Noah Ukman's basketball player here. I needed a bank
that would work with my business schedule, which is why
I chose Fort Bank. They offer instant issue debit cards.
When you open an account in a branch or, you
can open one online at fortbank dot Com. I can
easily manage my account through their app. Plus, if I
need to speak to a tailor, They're available from seven
am to se seven pm Monday through Saturday with on
(02:02):
demand banking. Fort Bank stays on top of their game,
so I can stay on top of mind.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Message in data rates may apply if hopening something to
approval for bank.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Remember repeice, Hey, this is trendoah and I bank with
fort Bank.
Speaker 6 (02:12):
Life, liberty and the pursuit of instant cash. Play the
Big Bill games from the Kentucky Lottery. Fill your wallet
with chances to win prizes up to five hundred thousand
dollars with scratch offs like Lincoln, Jefferson and Jackson. Or
tap into instant excitement with Park's Triple Play Online Big Bills.
Speaker 7 (02:31):
Mean big thrills.
Speaker 6 (02:32):
Play it's you a local Kentucky Lottery retailer or online
today visit kwylottery dot com for gave details.
Speaker 7 (02:39):
Please play responsibly, Kentucky. Remember it's just a game. Did
you know?
Speaker 8 (02:43):
Former Kentucky basketball coach John Maller is credited with developing
the boutch pass. Of course, you don't need to be
a basketball coach to know that sometimes in life, football
just doesn't bound your way, like when a storm or
accident damages your property. That's why so Kentucky's rely on
Kentucky Farm Bureau for their insurance needs. You might say
(03:05):
we have more than a passing interest in helping out
folks in the commonwealth. Kentucky Farm Bureau big on commitment.
Speaker 9 (03:12):
With the money they saved and earned by enrolling in
lg and E and KU's new energy efficiency programs like
online marketplace and bring your own thermostat. Frank was able
to buy a pigmy goat, Sheila got bagpipes, Harry bought
ten pounds of Monk's head cheese, Christy learned the watusi
and the macharina, and Bruce he bought a bicycle because
(03:34):
he's just out there. Sign up now to earn money
and save for whatever you're into. Visit lgedeshku dot com slash.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Save uh oh brah.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's buzzed.
Speaker 10 (03:44):
Oh yeah, yeah, he's starting with the woots.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
And now a speech.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I just want to say that friendship is about heart,
art and brain.
Speaker 7 (03:55):
Who's with me?
Speaker 10 (03:56):
Good thing is he knows when he's buzzed, and.
Speaker 6 (03:58):
My brain is saying when it's time to go home,
somebody call me a ride.
Speaker 11 (04:03):
Love that guy, me too, know your buzzed warning signs,
call for a ride when it's time to go home.
Buzz driving is drunk driving. A message FORMITZA and the
ad Council.
Speaker 12 (04:12):
Oh right, all right, it's a beautiful day for football
here at the stadium and we're just about ready for
kickoff score zero zero and suddenly I'm in the mood
for a.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
Coke zero sugar Real Coke Taste zero Sugar. No, that's
a winning combo, Yeah.
Speaker 13 (04:31):
Chris, refreshing that hits the spy. When it comes to
great taste, Coke zero sugar is always on the scoreboard.
Coke zero sugar Real Coke Taste zero Sugar.
Speaker 14 (04:42):
The new DQ Crispy Onion Cheeseburger seven dollars meal deal
has everything you could want and more. First, there's the
juicy cheeseburger that comes with melty cheese and crunchy crispy onions.
Oh and a full size order of fries and a
drink and a Sunday And did we mention that it's
all just seven bucks At participating DQ locations, enjoy every
(05:04):
and with the new Crispy Onion Cheezburger seven dollars meal
deal here for a limited time right now at DQ
Happy Taste Good.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Welcome back into the Nick Nings you Own show here
on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 7 (05:16):
I'm Darren Hedrick.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
We've got the head coach with us excited for another
season of our radio show as the Wildcats open SEC
play against Alabama this weekend. But first, coach, let's talk
about an exciting weekend for your group. Really overall a
great week going five and zero. This team played exceptionally
well at times this weekend or this week.
Speaker 15 (05:34):
Yeah, I give you guys a lot of credit. You know,
at the end of our game yesterday, you know, we
have transfers in our program. And I said, all right,
raise your hand if you're in another program last year.
And they raised your hand and I said, okay, now
keep your hand up if you went five and oh
in a week before.
Speaker 7 (05:50):
And a lot of hands went down.
Speaker 15 (05:52):
So and the reason why I bring that up is
was just a good reminder of it's really hard to
win baseball games in college. So all the parody is incredible,
but to go five and zero is a whole nother thing.
And give the guys a lot of credit. We had
to use a lot of players to make that.
Speaker 7 (06:07):
Happen, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And looking at your non conference overall, you're fourteen and
two as you get ready for league play to start.
Three sweeps in your non conference weekend eleven and one
overall in the non conference weekend series. What impressed you
the most about the way this team went about its business.
Speaker 15 (06:24):
Well, you know, going back to the very first weekend.
You know, we were on the road the first two
weekends and we actually played double headers, which no college baseball.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
Coach is ever signing up for that.
Speaker 15 (06:35):
But this time of year and the country, if you remember,
with all the rain and the snow and the ice.
But for us to win both of those series, to
sweep the first weekend and then to lose a one
to nothing game at Evansville on the second game of
a double header. So now looking back into the two
home series, for us to sweep both teams was obviously big,
(06:57):
and you know that we did it them in different
ways that you hear me say that a lot. You know,
coming into conference play, I want our team to experience everything,
to come from behind, win, get ahead, stay ahead, build
your lead, the tie game to come.
Speaker 7 (07:10):
You know, all those things.
Speaker 15 (07:11):
And I really feel like we got just about all
that in what we haven't gotten in as a rain delay,
which none of us want to, but we had to
delay a game because our range.
Speaker 7 (07:20):
So we've experienced a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
In this non conference This weekend, you experienced a lot
in a series against the Citadel winning ten to five,
twelve to seven, and thirteen to five. All those featured
comebacks by the Citadel, but then a punch back by
your team. What did you what were your biggest takeaways
with the way this team just would not let the
Citadel wrestle control of those games away.
Speaker 15 (07:42):
Yeah, I think anytime that you can have your team
come back right and then do it at different times
to have to come back, so it's one thing to
have to come back and you know, the first three
or four innings, it's another thing to come back in
the middle of the game, but then it's another thing
to have to come back late. And we had to
do that, and we did it in different ways. So
(08:04):
for us to get the lead and then to give
it up, which you're never happy about, right, but at
the same time, you know, to be able to come
back and just take control of the game, and you're
only able to do that if your players can execute
at a high level, and we certainly did that well.
Speaker 7 (08:20):
Coach.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
One of the big storylines in the series this weekend
against the Citadel was the return of infielder Tyler Bell
from the injury. He was the designated hitter for all
three games against the Bulldogs. What did you see out
of him at the plate, because he got looks from
both sides this weekend.
Speaker 15 (08:35):
Just his presence, Yeah, I mean, and give our fans
so much credit. His first at bat, the ovation that
they gave him.
Speaker 7 (08:46):
We had a runner at third and one of our
players is like coaches, is really cool.
Speaker 15 (08:52):
Just for our fans to recognize how special And I
think anytime you have somebody to the player of his caliber,
let alone just the injury that he had to overcome, right,
So just you combine all that, all the emotions he
comes up with the bases loaded and just a really
neat deal and opportunity for him to come back, and
(09:13):
our fans recognize him.
Speaker 7 (09:14):
But they're just his presence.
Speaker 15 (09:15):
I mean when you look at those comebacks, he's in
the middle of every single one of those. And then
his ability to put the game away with his home
run late in the first game, right, so he can
impact us in so many ways. He you know, has
a shorter lead. We don't want him diving back at first.
Of course he does it, and we're like Tyler and
I look at him and give him the look. But yeah,
(09:36):
his presence, he just makes our team better and they
feed off of him, and so to be able to
get him back was certainly big. And I'm convinced that
he is the main reason why we were able to
even come back in those baseball games.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Coach, he has such a mature, professional approach and the
way he goes about things during the injury. How did
you see him use that to help his teammates in
the dug.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
Yeah, so we have a chart and we did this with.
Speaker 15 (10:03):
Grant Smith and Ryan Waldschmid in the fall. You remember
they had those injuries and Waldy the year he was
a first rounder. Darren he missed the entire fall because
he was up in the Cape had the knee injury,
and we just made a commitment that we were going
to help him get better. So what they would do
is they would literally chart every pitch at our pitcher
through so in inner squads, those guys instead of getting
(10:25):
their three to five plate appearances, they were getting thirty
and forty plate appearances.
Speaker 7 (10:30):
Because they're in every abbat.
Speaker 15 (10:32):
And we did the same for Tyler and he and
I had a really cool conversation after the game yesterday
and he just said, Coach, I really feel like charting
every one of those pitches. So if the pitcher threw
a fastball, he would mark it down was a fastball,
but not only was it a fastball, what location of
the plate was it? Was it a foul ball? Was
it a swing and miss? So Tyler has done that
for the last three weeks. He has charted every pitch
(10:54):
and he's gotten forty plate appearances, roughly forty play appearances.
He was in one hundred and two when he have
ats every weekend and he says to me, he's like, coach,
that really helped me. Well, then he started taking notes
on our players and he started telling them things about
their swings. Oh, that's great, and he just served our
team and he is like, as he would tell you,
(11:15):
he's a leader by example. But he just sat there
and charted and did every single pitcheon. Next thing you know,
you look up and he's in the middle of all
these big backs and he's like, coach, I'm convinced that
really helped me. And so he did something that former
players did, made himself better, and as a result, he
made the team better and at the same time he
made himself better.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Well, coach, those former players were special, and he certainly
is too.
Speaker 7 (11:38):
But let's talk about the other side of that.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
With Bell sidelined for the moment, not playing the infield,
you've put Luke Lawrence over to short and Ethan Handle
at second. How have those two stepped up and risen
to the occasion defensively in the infield?
Speaker 15 (11:51):
Yeah, and you know to your point, you know, losing
Tyler the first weekend, well, first game, well we also
have Serny that's been out.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 15 (12:01):
So now all of a sudden, our left side of
the infield is not there, so we have to take
Luke and move them the short. And that was a
difficult night that first game of the year, just winning
the first game but then losing Tyler sure, and having
to just go through our staff.
Speaker 7 (12:16):
And I give our staff a lot of credit.
Speaker 15 (12:18):
Before the season started, Darren, we went through every single
position and we said, okay, who's the first guy here,
who's the second guy here?
Speaker 7 (12:26):
And then we set our.
Speaker 15 (12:27):
Team and we said, okay, if this is the opening
day lineup, if someone wants.
Speaker 7 (12:30):
To get hurt, who would play here?
Speaker 15 (12:31):
But would it be if it was a short term injury,
who would play? But if it was a long term injury,
who would play right, because that changes things, Right, is
it going to be a game or two or is
it going to be weeks and months? And so we
picked Luke because he's obviously played shortstop and he could
settle the team. So he's done an unbelievable job. And
then you look up and then the job that Hindle
has done at second base is incredible. Cerney was doing
(12:55):
his deal and then next thing you know, now we
got Kid and Cloud in there. So it's like, you know,
if you sit there and you think about the amount
of people we've played. We have played six different guys
and they've all done a great job and respectively have
handled their positions well.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Another guy that had a big performance this weekend, but
I feel like he's performed well all season, has been
Jace Tarnish, your center fielder. You guys got him out
of the portal. What excites you the most? And has
he lived up to what the hype you were giving
in the fall so far?
Speaker 15 (13:27):
I mean, I think, you know, here's a guy that's
in Division one, he hit over four hundred and still
over thirty five.
Speaker 7 (13:34):
How about that?
Speaker 15 (13:36):
It's like it doesn't matter like anyone's like I don't
care what division.
Speaker 7 (13:39):
If you hit over four hundred, you're pretty good. You're
pretty good.
Speaker 15 (13:44):
And he has certainly lived up to that and if not,
maybe more. I mean, if you look at what he's
done on the base pass, his ability to hit his
billy score runs. He has speed and power, Darren. That
is really hard to find, as you know when you
can find.
Speaker 7 (13:59):
Speed in power.
Speaker 15 (14:01):
So he's we've figured out, We've hitten him all over
our lineup, like where do we hit him? But he's
settled in the leadoff spot and I really believe that's
the spot that he needs to be at because he
can impact a game in so many ways. In the
second he gets on first base is still in base,
thread is always there.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Absolutely watch BBN Tonight, presented by UK Healthcare, every weeknight
at seven thirty on wl EX here in Lexington. Fans
can also watch archive shows at bbntonight dot com.
Speaker 7 (14:27):
Let's take a quick time out.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
We'll have another segment with coach Vinji on when we
come back here on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 7 (14:33):
When might you be buzzed?
Speaker 11 (14:34):
When you suddenly love everything you guys?
Speaker 4 (14:38):
I love this song, I love these notchos all, I
love our kickball league. Oh, I love this guy.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
What's your name? You know what? I'd love a ride
when it's time to head out.
Speaker 11 (14:52):
If you see a buzzed warning sign, call for a
ride when it's time to go home. Buzz driving is
drunk driving. A message from NITZA and the AD Council.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
I love your car? Is this real lever?
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Oh right, all right.
Speaker 12 (15:04):
It's a beautiful day for football here at the stadium
and we're just about ready for kickoff, score zero zero,
And suddenly I'm in the mood for a Coke zero
sugar Real Coke Taste zero sugar.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
No, that's a winning combo.
Speaker 13 (15:21):
Yeah, Chris, refreshing that hits the spot when it comes
to great taste.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Coke zero sugar is always on the scoreboard. Coke zero sugar,
Real Coke Taste zero sugar.
Speaker 16 (15:33):
Hey, BBN, Coach Pope. Here in Kentucky, big blue determination.
Speaker 7 (15:39):
Is in our blood.
Speaker 16 (15:40):
It means we rise together, we fight together, and we
win together, whether we're making a run for a banner
or taking on our state's biggest healthcare challenges. Big blue determination.
It's why UK Healthcare is the official healthcare partner of
UK Athletics.
Speaker 17 (16:03):
Chevy trucks have you covered when the road takes you
from smooth sailing to Chevy Colorado will eat up some
of the toughest terrains with five available drive modes, and
Silverado and Silverado HD have the muscle to take you
out for some serious with multiple engine options and impressive towing,
while Silverado EV is the perfect combo of performance and capability,
making it a snap to hitch up this electric truck
(16:25):
and hit the road wherever the road leads. Chevy trucks
are right there with you. Chevrolet Together, let's drive.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
Those baseline tips or not.
Speaker 18 (16:34):
Athleen UK Athletics would like to bank our official cornerstone partners,
Central Bank, the official bank of UK Athletics, Kentucky Farm
Bureau Insurance, Big On Commitment and UK Healthcare, official healthcare
partner of Big Blue Nation STO.
Speaker 15 (16:48):
Kentucky Cool Pas, take the warning track, Walk Alive in Kentucky,
go some seven to two.
Speaker 18 (16:56):
Once again, thank you to our official cornerstone partners who
play a vital role in the success of the University
of Kentucky Athletics program.
Speaker 10 (17:04):
Flight by Yingling. It's the next generation of light beer.
For those who don't follow trends, but craft them. Flight
by Yingling is twelve ounces of uncompromised refreshment from America's
oldest brewery with only two point six grams of carbs
and ninety five calories. This is premium refreshment six generations
in the making. They'll just raise a glass, raise the bar.
(17:27):
Flight by Yingling available wherever beer is sold DJ Yingling
and so unincorporated Potsviell Pennsylvania. Please enjoy responsibly.
Speaker 7 (17:34):
Hello's fall, Kentucky Running. Put the bucket life up it
in Hi. This is otago away from Kentucky Basketball.
Speaker 19 (17:40):
I like to thank our official cornerstone partners, Central Bank,
the official bank of UK Athletics, Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance,
Big On Commitment and UK Healthcare, the official healthcare partner
of Big Blue Nation.
Speaker 7 (17:51):
Makes the catch in traffic, goes up fours and a.
Speaker 19 (17:54):
Foul one more time. A big thank you to our
official cornerstone partners. Our success on the court starts with
their support of new CA Athletic.
Speaker 20 (18:03):
Hey Deglue Nation. Looking to get closer to the teams,
coaches and student athletes you love, It's time to go
all in with BBN United, the ultimate way to support
Kentucky student athletes and show off your pride. With a
BBN United membership, You'll be invited to watch exclusive player
and coach content, access one of a kind ban experiences,
Get ukfam Merchant delivered to your door and be part
of something bigger than the game. Sign up for BBN
(18:26):
United at bbnunited dot com. UK Athletics Official fan Loyalty
program where passion fuels purpose.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Imagine yourself in a new Toyota like the world's best
selling vehicle, the all New All Hybrid twenty twenty six
Toyota rab Board Now through March thirty first get four
point nine to nine APR financing on a new grab
board or Lisa Well equipped rab or l E for
just two ninety nine a month for thirty six months
with thirty nine ninety nine two it's signing with a
(18:53):
proof credit through TFS, Tax, Title and License Extra. Call
one eight eight eight thirty six Toyota for details or
go to Toyota Toyota.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
Let's go places.
Speaker 21 (19:02):
Thinking about digging, planning a tree, putting up a fence,
hold that shovel before you break ground.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Head to Kentucky eight one one dot org or.
Speaker 21 (19:10):
Call eight one one it's quick, it's free, and yep,
it's the law. Submit your request online or call before
you Dig member Utility pros well mark where the underground
lines are. Don't risk the injury, service outages, penalties, or
costly repairs. Safety is in your hands.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Eight one to one Before You Dig Sponsored by the
Kentucky Public Service Commission.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Final segment of the Nick Man Jeones Show for this
week as the Wildcats prepare for Alabama this weekend. And
we talked a lot about the position players in our
last segment, so we'll talk pitching here in this segment.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
I know coach Minjium.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Loves to talk about his pitchers, but before we do,
I have to go back to Caden Cloud real quick,
because we've seen this young man come up with some huge,
huge hits for you to pick up some victories. But
yesterday a really fun moment you've visited with him before
in that just a quick time out and then all
of a sudden, the very next pitch, he just clobbers
into the bullpen for his first home run. And I
(20:14):
know a lot of the fans were texts were tweeting, calling,
texting like what did you say.
Speaker 7 (20:19):
To him for that?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
But No, it was a really cool moment to see
you visit with him and then all of a sudden, bam,
huge home run.
Speaker 7 (20:26):
Well you're calling that, by the way, It was incredible.
Speaker 15 (20:29):
And I got text messages where people bottle up and
sell it.
Speaker 7 (20:34):
Why can't it be that easy? I mean, why don't
you do that all the time? Man? I was just like, boy,
did he make us look good all the time? Coach?
Speaker 15 (20:45):
You know, Caden is a special player, and he's really talented,
and we have other freshmen that are really good players
that haven't gotten on the field as much. And but
you know his previous ibat if you remember he did
the check swing and put the ball in play first
that at bat he does a check swing, it almost puts.
Speaker 7 (21:02):
It in play.
Speaker 15 (21:03):
Yeah, And with Caden, like we all have areas of
our body language where you can read and you can
tell someone's frustration right, Well, his is on his face.
You could just see it in his face. Sometimes you
see it in people's shoulders. Sometimes you see it in
their posture, sometimes you see it in their hands.
Speaker 7 (21:18):
Like, well, you could see it on his face and
he was.
Speaker 15 (21:21):
Really bothered by this wing. So I'm like, okay, time out.
I'm gonna give him a little breather, and we had
a quick conversation. I just let him walk through what
was maybe off, and then I just reminded him that
he was a dog and that he was special and
he can do this, and like, stay on go, you
got this, and just encouraged him. And you know, look,
(21:42):
I was jogging back to the coaching box right and
like this is just real. I'm like talking about a
coach box. I'm like, oh Lord, please help this way,
Please make this work, Please.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
Make this work.
Speaker 15 (21:51):
And sure enough, next bitch, I'm just like, oh my goodness.
And his smile coming around third is just just another
reason why I love coaching, is because you just get
to see guys in their pure joy and happiness.
Speaker 7 (22:06):
And that was a cool moment. That was a cool moment.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
All right, Well, let's talk about some of the pitchers.
I wanted to lead off with a guy who made
multiple appearances against the Citadel this weekend. He's been a
huge addition to your staff because of how he can
pitch in multiple roles, and that's Jack Bennett. He had
four and two thirds scoreless this weekend with five strikeouts.
Speaker 15 (22:24):
Yeah, he's special, and I think anytime you can bring
somebody like that into your program that has weekend starting
experience like he's had, it has been special. And this
team right now is full of guys. When you bring
in the talented freshman class that we bring in and
then you put in the transfers that are in there,
they're all going to do different things that they maybe
(22:47):
never done before. So I had Jack, I said, hey, Jack,
have you ever pitched twice in a weekend before? He's like,
never in my life. And I go, well, you did
it pretty good. Yeah, you did it at a very
high level. And I say all that because Jack's heart,
it is beautiful. Literally came here, don't make no mistake
about it. He would love to start right. But he
was made it really clear that number one Kentucky was
(23:09):
his dream school. This is where he wanted to be
and that he would do anything that we'd ask him
to do.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
To help the team. And that's what he's done, and
he's done it at a very high level.
Speaker 15 (23:18):
And you know, anytime I always say this, the most
important pitture on our team is the one that's on
the mound at that time. And anytime you can hand
the ball to somebody like that who cares that much
that players have so much respect for. He works his
butt off, he does all these things to have him
go out and have that success. No one surprised. But
at the same time, it goes back to him in
(23:38):
his heart and his ability to land multiple pitches. He
moves his fastball in and out as you saw his
I mean, he is just a strike throwing machine and
a guy that's really poisoned those moments.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I know, there's a lot of excitement from the fans
about your weekend rotation. Overall, Now, Jackson Jelkin didn't have
the result he wanted against the Citadel, but overall he
has been such a pleasure to watch. I mean, he's
worth the price of admission on Friday nights.
Speaker 7 (24:01):
You know, going into Friday night, I think he had
a point five to five.
Speaker 22 (24:04):
Yeah, like yeah, but yeah, he is a guy that's
really grown and you know, coming off the timing John
surgery that he had at Euston, and we brought him
in last spring and he coached first base for us
and served our.
Speaker 7 (24:17):
Team in any way he could.
Speaker 15 (24:18):
And but the job that you know he's done for
us really has given us a chance to win on
every Friday night.
Speaker 7 (24:25):
It's it's power stuff.
Speaker 15 (24:27):
As you know, it's ninety five to ninety seven miles
an hour, he's throwing ninety mile an hour change ups.
I mean, it's it's electric stuff.
Speaker 7 (24:34):
And to your point, I.
Speaker 15 (24:35):
Mean, at any point in time, you're going to see
something power and you're going to see a guy that's
competing at a high level.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
We talked about Bell's professional approach. What have you seen
out of Jackson? Then the way he approaches his bullpens
with coach Roselle and the staff, and the way he
approaches his starts.
Speaker 15 (24:51):
Yeah, he is a guy that he is in tune
with his body. He has a lot of thoughts on
what he should do and shouldn't do. But he is
a guy that he is just he wants to work okay,
and he understands that in order to throw hard, you
gotta throw hard.
Speaker 7 (25:10):
Right.
Speaker 15 (25:11):
So if you watch him in his catch play, I
mean he's letting Darren, he's letting balls rip, and he
has tremendous feeling confidence. The biggest thing that I can
say about Jackson at this point is his ability to
make adjustments. For example, if he misses high and arm
side with a fastball.
Speaker 7 (25:27):
He can boom fix it the next pitch.
Speaker 15 (25:31):
If he holds onto a slider too long and he
rips it down, he can make the adjustment next pitch.
So his ability to understand what his body's doing through
space and his ability to make super quick adjustments has
been good. And then obviously the curveball is just special, right,
The fastball movement profile is special, But his understanding of
(25:51):
his body and how it works.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
One guy that I was excited to see somehow, every
time I would come to watch your scrimmages in the fall,
I would miss Austin fourth and then so I hadn't
got to see him in the fall, and then so
far this year, because of the crossover season with women's basketball,
I hadn't got to watch him pitch.
Speaker 7 (26:09):
Finally did yesterday.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Man, he's fun to watch the side arm and that
gives such a unique angle for hitters, especially when you
use him late in games.
Speaker 15 (26:17):
Yeah, to your point, I mean to be ninety two
from down here, yes side just the movement and the
horizontal movement he's getting, and then you know, yesterday I
thought this was special. He falls behind with the side arms,
so then he just proceeds to go straight over top,
and so it's basically the same velocity over top and
lands a breaking ball and then decides, Hey, I'm gonna
(26:39):
go down here, and then I'm gonna tease him with
a slider here, and then I'm gonna come.
Speaker 7 (26:42):
Just his ability to change arm angles is.
Speaker 15 (26:44):
Good, and then stuff is just power stuff with the velo,
the shape of the curveball, the shape of the slider,
He's literally Darren his fastball is moving and his slider
he's covering the whole plate. And then over top he's
got the fastball does this and the curveball that does
this is really two pitch.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, And I know when I could ask you what
excites you most about your staff overall, but you and
I talk about it all the time. It's just the
different angles and the different directions that you show hitters
through the course of the weekend series. And that'll be
big against Alabama this weekend.
Speaker 7 (27:14):
Yeah, it will be.
Speaker 15 (27:15):
I mean when you think about you got Ira from
over here, right, and then you can go all the
way around the clock and you got Sussi from up here,
you got Leyton Harris from over here. So it's like
we're working our way around there, and you have all
the different armslots, Ryan Mullen straight over top. I mean,
you just go through and you just list every guy,
Nate Harris, where benk Cleaver is.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
And to me, that's our best thing is when we
change pictures, we actually change pictures.
Speaker 15 (27:38):
We don't bring in another six to four aridy that
throws from the same armslot, that has the same slider. Yeah,
and we're we have the ability to do that, and
that's what makes our staff special is that the guys
that have to stand in a box, they're not seeing
the same movement in shape profile every time, which in
a lot of programs that's how it is. You're just
they're changing pictures, but it's the same guy stuff wise,
(27:59):
and that's not the case with our staff.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Coach, we just got a little over a minute left
in our show. You have Ball State tomorrow night at
six thirty. I think the weather should be pretty good
at Kentucky Proud Park, So come on out and catch
the Cats against Ball State.
Speaker 7 (28:11):
But then SEC play begins.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I just wanted to take this last minute of the
show and kind of get your thoughts on what you
expect out of the league this year now that we're
getting into SEC play so much parody.
Speaker 15 (28:20):
I mean, you just sit there and you look up
and down in our league and I think, you know,
Reeves last night was checking the scores and I had
a nice dinner together, and he's like, Dad, like, let's
just see what other teams in our league did. And
so I said, Hey, just check the top twenty five.
He's like, Dad, how many teams in our league are
ranked in the top twenty five.
Speaker 7 (28:38):
I said, take a guess. He's like ten. I go, Reeves,
it's eleven.
Speaker 15 (28:40):
Yeah, eleven of our teams are ranked in the top
twenty five, including the Cats.
Speaker 7 (28:45):
Cats.
Speaker 15 (28:45):
That's right, and so I just expect parody in some
really close games. As we saw last year, the margin
and victory is super small, and you got to execute
at a high level.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Well, coach, it's our first show of the week. We're
done with this one ball State tomorrow night at Kentucky
Proud Park and we'll see you there.
Speaker 7 (28:59):
Thank you, you go Cats. That's Nick Menjiona.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
This has been the Nick Manngeones Show here on the
UK Sports Network.
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com