Tag: Nick Mingione

SEC baseball releases 2025 schedules: Here’s who Kentucky will play

The SEC released the 2025 conference schedules for all 16 baseball teams Thursday afternoon. Here’s who Kentucky will face in conference play in 2025.

The Southeastern Conference announced the 2025 league baseball schedules for all 16 members on Thursday. The Kentucky Wildcats will play five conference series at home and five on the road.

Here’s who the Bat Cats will play.

Kentucky will open conference play on the road against Georgia in Athens, March 14-16, and will also visit Texas A&M, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt in league action. The Volunteers won the 2024 College World Series over the runner-up Aggies. Kentucky will be in Knoxville for Easter Weekend, April 18-20.

Auburn, Ole Miss and South Carolina are three of the more familiar SEC rivals who will visit Kentucky Proud Park in 2025, as will conference newcomers Texas and Oklahoma. Auburn will head to Lexington on March 21-23 for Kentucky’s SEC home opener.

Texas is scheduled to visit Lexington, April 11-13, while Kentucky will host Oklahoma in the second to last regular-season series, May 9-11. The Bat Cats will close the regular season in Nashville against Vanderbilt, May 15-17 before the SEC Tournament in Hoover (Ala.).

Kentucky is coming off its best season in program history. The Bat Cats won a school-record 46 games to finish 46-16 overall and were ranked No. 3 in the final USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll behind Tennessee and Texas A&M. Kentucky reached the College World Series for the first time in school history.

After the season, Kentucky had seven players selected in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft: outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt (No. 31 overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks), second baseman Emilien Pitre (second-round, Tampa Bay Rays), pitcher Trey Pooser (fifth-round, Tampa Bay), first baseman Ryan Nicholson (10th round, Los Angeles Angels), and pitchers Mason Moore (15th round, Chicago White Sox), Travis Smith (15th round, Milwaukee Brewers) and Dominic Niman (18th round, Tampa Bay).

 

The 2025 season will be the ninth for Kentucky under coach Nick Mingione, who recently agreed to a longterm contract extension with the school just last week.

RELATED: Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mingione agrees to contract extension

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Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mingione agrees to contract extension

Nick Mingione figures to stay in Lexington for a long time.

Nick Mingione has received a nice reward for leading Kentucky baseball to the program’s first ever College World Series.

Mingione and the school have agreed to a new five-year contract. The news was first reported Friday afternoon by Derek Terry of Bat Cats Central. The new deal runs through the 2029 season and will see Mingione earn an average of $1,435,000 annually.

His 2025 salary will be a reported $1,175,000, with Mingione scheduled to earn an automatic one-year extension every year he leads Kentucky to the NCAA Tournament. The Bat Cats have made the tournament each of the past two years.

In June, Mingione led Kentucky to the College World Series after sweeping Oregon State in the Lexington Super Regional. The Bat Cats defeated North Carolina State on a walk-off home run from Mitchell Daly in the 10th inning for the program’s first win in Omaha.

Kentucky ended the season at 46-16 overall and finished No. 3 in the final USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll behind national champion Tennessee and College World Series runner-up Texas A&M. The 2025 season will be Mingione’s ninth as Kentucky head coach.

 

Seven players from the Bat Cats’ 2024 team were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft: outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt (No. 31 overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks), second baseman Emilien Pitre (second-round, Tampa Bay Rays), pitcher Trey Pooser (fifth-round, Tampa Bay), first baseman Ryan Nicholson (10th round, Los Angeles Angels), and pitchers Mason Moore (15th round, Chicago White Sox), Travis Smith (15th round, Milwaukee Brewers) and Dominic Niman (18th round, Tampa Bay).

All seven players who were drafted signed with their respective MLB clubs. Daly and infielder Grant Smith were senior members of Kentucky’s 2024 team and signed separately as undrafted free agents.

RELATED: Kentucky cracks Baseball America way-too-early Top 25 rankings

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Kentucky baseball commit Tyler Bell foregoes MLB, will play in Lexington

Tyler Bell announced Wednesday that he would play for Kentucky baseball.

Nick Mingione and the Kentucky baseball program got a major boost Wednesday when highly touted infielder and class of 2024 recruit Tyler Bell announced his intention to play for the Bat Cats in 2025.

Bell was the No. 66 overall selection by the Tampa Bay Rays in this year’s Major League Baseball Draft. He announced his intention to forego the professional ranks and to play for Kentucky in a social media post to X early Wednesday afternoon.

In doing so, the Rays will lose the $1,260,200 million slot value associated with the pick from their bonus pool. Bell will not be eligible for the draft again until after the 2026 season.

“Tyler is an outstanding player and tremendous person,” Mingione said in a press release. “He will perfectly fit into our culture both on and off the field. The Kentucky baseball program got better today.”

Listed as 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, Bell committed to Kentucky out of Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort, Ill. Perfect Game rated him the No. 59 overall player in the class of 2024.

The 2024 season was a historic one for Kentucky baseball. The Wildcats reached the College World Series in Omaha for the first time in program history and finished No. 3 in the final USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll behind national champion Tennessee and runner-up Texas A&M.

Kentucky barely cracks Baseball America way-too-early Top 25 rankings

Here’s where Kentucky ranks in Baseball America’s first way-too-early Top 25 for next season.

Kentucky baseball is coming off its best season in program history.

Nick Mingione’s team reached the College World Series for the first time in school history and went 46-16 overall to finish No. 3 in the final USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll behind national champion Tennessee and runner-up Texas A&M.

But roster turnover, which includes the transfer portal and losing a plethora of players to the professional ranks through the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft (plus two others who signed as non-drafted free agents), will cause Mingione to have to rebuild if the Wildcats expect to reach Omaha again next season.

Because of that, Baseball America has Kentucky at No. 23 in its way-too-early Top 25 rankings for the 2025 season, released Wednesday.

Per Baseball America:

“Mingione has proven adept at managing the transfer portal to reload. He also has some key returners to build around in catcher Devin Burkes and righthander Robert Hogan.

Kentucky doesn’t have the most talented roster in this Top 25 and another school with this kind of turnover might not be ranked here. But after hosting back-to-back regionals with similar builds, the Wildcats have earned the benefit of the doubt.”

Kentucky saw four pitchers and three position players selected via the MLB Draft, including outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt (No. 31 overall by Arizona) and second baseman Emilien Pitre (second round, No. 58 overall by Tampa Bay). First baseman Ryan Nicholson was drafted in the 10th round by the Los Angeles Angels (no. 292 overall).

Pitchers Trey Pooser (10th round, Tampa Bay), Mason Moore (15th round, Chicago White Sox), Travis Smith (15th round, Milwaukee) and Dominic Niman (18th round, Tampa Bay) were selected, as well. Infielders Mitchell Daly and Grant Smith were signed as non-drafted free agents.

In the transfer portal, the Wildcats lost outfielder Nolan McCarthy to Georgia but have added pitchers Nic McCay (from South Dakota State), Chase Alderman (Eastern Kentucky), Scott Rouse (Radford), Oliver Boone (Cal), Simon Gregersen (Indiana State), Matthew Watson (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), Ethan Walker (Longwood) and Cole Hentschel (Richmond).

Kentucky also picked up Kansas State catcher Raphael Pelletier, INF/OF Cole Hage (Columbia), INFs Luke Lawrence (Illinois State) and Dylan Koontz (Campbell), and outfielders Shaun Montoya (San Diego State) and Will Marcy (Memphis). Outfielder Carson Hansen, who spent last season at Milwaukee-Wisconsin, committed to Arkansas before changing his commitment to Kentucky last week.

Outfielder Jackson Strong (Canisius) committed to Kentucky in the transfer portal but was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the seventh round. Strong has yet to sign with the Tigers.

Kentucky baseball hires rising star as hitting coach

Kentucky has tabbed Wright State assistant Chase Slone as the Wildcats’ new hitting coach.

Kentucky baseball officially has a new hitting coach.

The school announced the hiring of Chase Slone as the Wildcats’ hitting coach and assistant coach Sunday. Slone comes to Lexington from Wright State. He’ll take over hitting coach duties from Nick Ammirati, who left for a position on Georgia’s staff earlier this month.

“Chase is a perfect fit for Kentucky Baseball,” Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said in a news release Sunday. “He’s extremely intelligent, innovative and has played a pivotal role in one of the nation’s most effective and opportunistic offensive attacks. We are thrilled to welcome him to the UK baseball family and the Big Blue Nation.”

The 28-year-old Slone was a player at Wright State from 2018-19 before returning to the school as a member of the coaching staff. He started as a volunteer assistant in 2020 before working his way up to Associate Head Coach entering the 2024 season.

As a team, the Raiders finished 10th among Division I teams in scoring a season ago (nine runs per game) and eighth in home runs and slugging percentage per game. Wright State went 32-24 overall in 2024, winning the Horizon League regular season championship. They were eliminated in their conference tournament by Youngstown State and did not reach the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky’s offense was 33rd in the nation last year in runs scored. The Wildcats earned their first trip to the College World Series in school history, finishing 46-16 overall.

Kentucky finished No. 3 in the final USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll.

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Where Kentucky finished in final 2024 USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll

Here’s where Kentucky placed in the final USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll, released this week.

By all measures, the 2024 college baseball season was a success for the Kentucky Wildcats and coach Nick Mingione.

After being swept in both games of the Baton Rouge Super Regional by eventual national champion LSU a year ago, the Wildcats had one of the biggest breakthrough seasons in the SEC in 2024.

They reached the College World Series for the first time in school history. The program’s first win in Omaha was also a thriller, featuring a walk-off home run from Mitchell Daly to defeat North Carolina State, 5-4, in 10 innings. Kentucky’s season, which featured a school record 46 wins, came to an end when the team was eliminated by Florida.

After Tennessee was crowned national champions following a 6-5 victory over Texas A&M in Game 3 of the CWS Finals on Monday night, the final USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll was released Tuesday. Kentucky (46-16 overall) finished at No. 3 behind the Volunteers and Aggies.

No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 North Carolina rounded out the top five. Florida finished at No. 6 with Virginia, North Carolina State, Clemson and Georgia ranked Nos. 7-10.

Kentucky finished No. 13 in the final coaches poll in 2023.

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Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mingione named Coach of the Year

Kentucky baseball manager Nick Mingione was named National College Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year.

It has been a big weekend for Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mingione, who coached the Wildcats to their first ever College World Series win. In addition, he was named National College Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year.

It has been a great season for Kentucky, and Mingione has received several honors already. He was named SEC Coach of the Year as well, and Perfect Game also named him Coach of the Year.

Related: Best images from Kentucky’s College World Series win

Kentucky won 46 games this season, and was very good versus the SEC, going 22 – 8 in conference play. They won a share of the SEC regular season championship, and finished the season as the number two team in the nation heading into the postseason.

At times, in his career with the Wildcats, Mingione has been in danger of losing his job. They decided to stick with him, and it’s paying off. Kentucky is having its best season ever, and is in the College World Series. He has become a beloved figure in Lexington, and fans are happy to see him get the recognition he deserves.