Jim Mashek

WILDCATS STAY IN CONTENTION BUT CAN’T SOLVE TIGERS BULLPEN

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — Kentucky’s seventh-year coach, Nick Mingoine, was more than a little misty eyed when talking about his Wildcats baseball squad on Sunday night.

Kentucky got bludgeoned in falling to LSU right-hander Paul Skenes and the Tigers’ potent bats, 14-0, on Saturday night, in a game pushed back five hours because of weather concerns. UK managed just four hits against Skenes and LSU reliever Blake Money, who entered the game with two outs in the eighth inning.

This one was different.

This one, the ‘Cats were very much in it.

“We pushed ’em, we challenged ’em,” Mingoine said after LSU turned back the Wildcats, 8-3, before a paid crowd of 12,640 at Alex Box Stadium on Sunday night. “They never made excuses.”

Kentucky hit three solo home runs — all of them in the first four innings — but the Wildcats couldn’t solve LSU left-hander Riley Cooper and the Tigers’ bullpen with their season on the line. LSU swept the best-of-three series, improving to 48-15 while earning the school’s first berth in the College World Series since 2017.

LSU was the runner-up that year, falling to SEC rival Florida in the best-of-three championship series in Omaha, Nebraska. Since then, Jay Johnson has succeeded former LSU coach Paul Mainieri, but expectations have remained sky-high with the program.

The Tigahs have the kind of team that could make some serious noise in Omaha.

“Momentum in the postseason is huge,” said LSU slugger Cade Beloso, who delivered a three-run home run, a shot to right-center field, to put the Tigers in front 4-1 in the top of the third inning.

Kentucky, which finished the season at 40-21, trailed by just two runs for the bulk of the game. But the Wildcats managed just two hits over the final five innings, with LSU’s Riley Cooper claiming the win after three innings of scoreless relief.

Cooper earned his fourth victory against three defeats, while Austin Strickland, the ‘Cats starting pitcher, took the defeat while dropping to 4-2.

“If we had a crutch all year, it had to be our bullpen,” Cooper admitted. “It was good to show that’s not our crutch and that we can hold our own.”

Kentucky hit all three of its home runs off LSU’s starting pitcher, junior right-hander Ty Floyd. The Wildcats’ leadoff man, senior center fielder Jackson Gray, crushed a pitch from Floyd for a towering home run to right-center field in the first inning.

UK catcher Devin Burkes unloaded his solo shot to center field, with one out in the third, trimming the Wildcats’ deficit to 5-2. Then Nolan McCarthy, the ‘Cats sophomore right fielder, led off the fourth with a home run to left-center field, getting his team a little closer.

But Cooper took over two batters after McCarthy’s homer, and then he took over the game, too.

“It’s all starting to come together,” Cooper said.

UK coach Nick Mingoine has twice taken his team to the NCAA super regional round, but the Wildcats are still looking for their first trip to the College World Series. While some of their SEC brethren are familiar squads in Omaha — LSU, Florida, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, for starters — the ‘Cats are still in pursuit of a significant breakthrough.

Omaha.

“Obviously, we need to build off this,” Mingoine said. “We were close, this close, to being a national seed. We’re trending in the right direction.

“We’re close. We’re not that far off.”

Jay Johnson, LSU’s second-year coach, has a power-laden lineup with fairly defined roles.

Leadoff man Dylan Crews, who walked four times in his first five plate appearances, lined a two-run double to left field in the top of the ninth inning, giving LSU right-hander Gavin Guidry a little more breathing room for the final three outs.

(Breathing room? Please. To quote the immortal Buster Poindexter, “it’s hot, hot, hot” on The Bayou.)

Tommy White, the Tigers’ two-hole hitter, is a transfer from North Carolina State. White leads the team with 22 home runs and 96 RBI.

Yes, 96 RBI.

LSU first baseman Tre’ Morgan, a left-handed slugger from New Orleans, has one of the quickest bats you’ll ever see in the college game. Morgan had two home runs in Saturday night’s 14-0 romp over the Wildcats, and he’s one of five LSU players to have hit at least 10 home runs this season.

LSU’s Jay Johnson has used three catchers this season — Hayden Travinski, Alex Milazzo and Brady Neal — and the Tigers are sporting a .314 team batting average with 133 home runs.

Kentucky, by comparison, finishes its season with 54 home runs.

“(LSU is) one of the most talented teams I’ve seen, in seven years of college baseball,” UK right-hander Darren Williams said.

Williams was one of seven UK pitchers summoned by Wildcats coach Nick Mingoine in hopes of staying within striking distance. UK right-hander Mason Moore was the most effective, hurling 4 1/3 innings os scoreless relief before yielding to Williams to lead off the eighth inning.

Beloso’s three-run home run in the third, however, was clearly the turning point.

LSU has maintained a standard of excellence, even after five-time national champion coach Skip Bertman stepped down after the 2001 season.

Jay Johnson, the second-year LSU coach, has college baseball’s best pitcher, 6-foot-7 right-hander Paul Skenes, and perhaps college baseball’s premier outfielder, junior center fielder Dylan Crews.

Johnson has the wind at his back.

“I’m so proud of this team,” Johnson said after the Tigers celebrated with their fans inside Alex Box Stadium. “I wanted these guys to experience this, so bad. They’re champions.

“I’m really excited to go to Omaha, and chase a national championship with them.”