LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- There used to be a list of excuses that stretched from Lexington to Omaha that explained why the University of Kentucky baseball team was the only program in the Southeastern Conference that failed to make an appearance in the NCAA College World Series.
Too much cold weather. Tired facilities. Too much stiff competition in the SEC. Uneven local recruiting territory. Blah, blah, blah.
Not anymore. Not under the ultra aggressive coaching of Nick Mingione.
The Wildcats earned their first trip to Omaha, Nebraska, and the 2024 College World Series by defeating Oregon State, 3-2, at Kentucky Proud Park in a game that started after 9 p.m. Sunday and ended at 12:33 a.m. Monday.
The all-clear to celebrate came when Johnny Hummel, UK’s fourth relief pitcher, struck out Oregon State’s Micah McDowell on three pitches to end the game with the tying run on third and the winning run on first.
And celebrate the Wildcats did. Catcher Devin Burkes held the called strike three ball proudly over head. The players left the dugout and their positions and collapsed in a huge, emotional pile in the infield. Mingione cried in the dugout.Â
The players took the Super Regional trophy on a victory lap around the park, jumping up and high-fiving as many of the 7,558 fans as possible.
The ESPN commentators asked Mingione how long he had been thinking about this moment.
"From the day I got hired," he said.
That was June 13, 2016, 2,919 days ago.
Get this: In five tournament games over two weekends, the Wildcats never trailed and outscored their opponents 34-11.
And this: They limited Oregon State to one hit Saturday and two on Sunday.
And this: They retired Travis Bazzana, a likely top three pick in the Major League Baseball free agent draft next month, in six of his nine plate appearances, limiting him to one harmless single. In fact, UK pitchers struck out Bazzana three times in two games, including in the seventh inning Sunday with the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
The Wildcats (45-14) joined Tennessee, Florida and Texas A&M as the fourth SEC team to qualify for the 2024 World Series. They’ll begin pool play in Omaha against North Carolina State or Georgia.
Kentucky scored single runs in the second and fourth innings to move ahead 2-0. Center fielder Nolan McCarthy drove in both runs — the first one on a double that ricocheted off the wall in the left field corner, the second on a sacrifice bunt that brought Mitchell Daly home from third base.
Oregon State tied the game in the bottom of the fourth — without a hit.
UK starter Mason Moore labored through 42 pitches in the bottom of the fourth because most were out of the strike zone. Moore sandwiched two walks before and after a dropped popup by shortstop Grant Smith created the first runs Oregon State scored in 13 innings.
McCarthy enjoyed hitting the ball into that corner so much that he did it again to open the seventh inning. After a pop out, the Wildcats scored in a way that will be talked about for years.
Smith struck out on a breaking ball that eluded OSU catcher Wilson Weber and rolled to the backstop.
McCarthy started running from second base and did not stop until he crossed the plate. Oregon State pitcher Nelson Keljo did not get the memo that the Wildcats run the bases with gusto. Keljo dropped his head and stayed near the mound and then walked toward home plate until he realized McCarthy had no plans to stop running.
He scored, easily. Mingione said McCarthy ran so hard that he injured his hamstring, leading the coach to replace him with Ty Crittenberger.
Cameron O’Brien, Robert Hogan, Ryan Hagenow and Hummel shut the Beavers down over the final three innings, guaranteeing history without letting Oregon State get another run.
O'Brien worked three innings to earn the victory, his third, while Hummel got his seventh save by throwing the three most memorable strikes in UK baseball history.
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