How will Kentucky baseball build on historic 2024 season? ‘The next step is to win it’
New Kentucky baseball pitcher Nic McCay’s introduction to Big Blue Nation came at perhaps the most exciting moment in the history of the program he was about to join.
A transfer from South Dakota State, McCay contacted UK’s coaching staff to see if there was any chance he could purchase tickets to the Wildcats’ super-regional series against Oregon State as he made the trip from his home in Iowa to Massachusetts where he would be playing in the prestigious Cape Cod League last spring.
“We’re in the third row behind home plate,” McCay said. “The first, walk-up song came on. (Ryan) Waldschmidt came up to the plate, and everybody was doing the hands (in the air) for that walkout.
“Dang, it’s pretty cool. And then, just got better from there.”
McCay watched as his teammates went on to clinch Kentucky’s first trip to the College World Series in program history. In Omaha, the Wildcats would win one game — in dramatic fashion — before bowing out of the tournament.
As Nick Mingione’s team prepares to open the 2025 season Friday with a doubleheader against Lipscomb in Nashville, the high of that postseason run still is evident around the program. But many of the key players are gone.
Of the 44 players on UK’s 2025 roster, 29 are new to the program, either college freshmen or transfers. Now, Mingione and company are faced with the difficult task of proving last season’s magic was a sign of things to come rather than an unforgettable one-off.
“Now, the next step is to win it,” Mingione said. “... That’s the next thing to knock down.”
Before Mingione was hired as UK’s coach in 2016, Kentucky had never even reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in its current format.
Mingione led the Wildcats to their first super regional in his first season running the program in 2017, but a five-year NCAA Tournament drought followed. Facing increased job pressure, Mingione led Kentucky to another super regional in 2023.
Perhaps it was no surprise given the program’s historic spot at the bottom of the SEC standings that national pundits gave the 2024 Wildcats little credit for that run. Kentucky had never reached the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons in the modern era of the program.
But Mingione silenced those doubts by winning the SEC for just the second time in program history. He followed the regular season title with a return to the super regional. Even as the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, Kentucky was a popular pick to be upset by Oregon State, a program with much more historic postseason success.
Instead, the Wildcats swept the Beavers and future No. 1 overall MLB draft pick Travis Bazzana to reach the program’s first College World Series.
“In the moment when it was happening, you don’t really think about it all that much, but after being in the summer, getting back with all the guys and embarking on a new season, I’m super excited that we got to do it,” left-handed reliever Jackson Nove said. “But … it’s not the end goal. Obviously we broke that door down and got there, but obviously the end goal is to win it.
“Excited for this new team. We’re excited for what’s to come.”
Nove is one of just a handful of Wildcats who played key roles during last season’s NCAA Tournament run back in Lexington.
Waldschmidt, UK’s best hitter last season, and All-SEC second baseman Émilien Pitre were both selected in the first 60 picks of last summer’s MLB draft. First baseman Ryan Nicholson, who led the team with 24 home runs, was picked in the 10th round. Designated hitter Nick Lopez, who led the team in batting average, and third baseman Mitchell Daly, who hit the walk-off home run in game one of the College World Series, exhausted their eligibility, and center fielder Nolan McCarthy transferred to Georgia.
UK’s top four starting pitchers — Trey Pooser (10th round), Mason Moore (15th), Travis Smith (15th) and Dominic Niman (18th) — were drafted. Key relievers Johnny Hummel, Cameron O’Brien and Ryan Hagenow exhausted their eligibility.
UK returns just two members of its regular 2024 lineup (catcher Devin Burkes and right fielder James McCoy). Nove and fellow lefty Evan Byers and right-handed pitchers Robert Hogan and Ben Cleaver are the only returning players who pitched during the NCAA Tournament last season. Cleaver, who could fill a weekend rotation spot this season, saw his only postseason action with a scoreless inning in the season-ending blowout loss to Florida.
“That means that I got more gray hair this fall,” Mingione said of his rebuilt roster. “I got less sleep than I’ve ever gotten. But I feel really good about the strides we’ve made so far.”
None of the prominent media preseason polls have included Kentucky in the top 25, but the coaches poll did slot the Wildcats at No. 24 entering the season. However, SEC coaches picked UK to finish 10th in the league in their preseason poll for the first year with Oklahoma and Texas in the league.
For the third consecutive season, Mingione has leaned heavily into the transfer portal to fill out a roster.
McCay is expected to serve as UK’s Friday night ace. At least six transfer hitters could fill regular roles in the lineup, led by second-team preseason NCBWA All-American Cole Hage.
Infielder Tyler Bell, the highest-drafted player at No. 66 overall last summer to elect to turn down a professional contract in order to play college baseball, leads a host of freshmen that will probably need to contribute early too.
Despite all the new faces, UK players and Mingione insist the hunger to build on last season remains in the program.
“Nic (McCay), because it’s his seventh year, he definitely wants to win and go to Omaha,” McCoy said. “It’s kind of up and down (the roster). Even the younger guys that are coming in, they see what we did last year, and they want to do that too.”
Whether the formula that helped lead UK to Omaha, which included a festive dugout atmosphere that received much attention from opponents and commentators, can be duplicated remains to be seen, but Mingione is not altering UK’s aggressive playing style.
Doing whatever it takes to win games has become Kentucky’s identity as a program. Now, Mingione and company have a chance to prove consistently winning is a part of that identity too.
“It’s good to make it, but that wall has been knocked down, and now we got to win the whole thing,” Mingione said. “I told you guys this from the time I got hired here, if I didn’t think we could do this, I would have never taken the job here.
“So, got another wall knocked down, but got another one to go.”
2025 UK baseball schedule
Home games in all capital letters. All times Eastern.
Feb. 14: At Lipscomb (doubleheader), 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
Feb. 16: At Lipscomb, 2 p.m. (ESPN+)
Feb. 18: MOREHEAD STATE, 4 p.m. (SEC+)
Feb. 21: At Belmont, 5 p.m.
Feb. 22: At Belmont, 2 p.m.
Feb. 23: At Belmont, 2 p.m.
Feb. 25: EVANSVILLE, 4 p.m. (SEC+)
Feb. 28: HOFSTRA, 4 p.m. (SEC+)
March 1: HOFSTRA, 1 p.m. (SEC+)
March 2: HOFSTRA, Noon (SEC+)
March 4: At Eastern Kentucky, 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
March 5: EASTERN KENTUCKY, 4 p.m. (SEC+)
March 7: WOFFORD, 4 p.m. (SEC+)
March 8: WOFFORD, 1 p.m. (SEC+)
March 9: WOFFORD, 1 p.m. (SEC+)
March 14: At Georgia, 6 p.m. (SEC+)
March 15: At Georgia, 2 p.m. (SEC+)
March 16: At Georgia, 1 p.m. (SEC+)
March 18: MURRAY STATE, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
March 21: AUBURN, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
March 22: AUBURN, 2 p.m. (SEC+)
March 23: AUBURN, 2 p.m. (SEC)
March 25: XAVIER, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
March 28: At Texas A&M, 7 p.m. (SEC+)
March 29: At Texas A&M, 3 p.m. (SEC+)
March 30: At Texas A&M, 2 p.m. (SEC+)
April 3: MISSISSIPPI, 7 p.m. (SEC)
April 4: MISSISSIPPI, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
April 5: MISSISSIPPI, 2 p.m. (SEC+)
April 8: At Louisville, 8 p.m. (ACC)
April 11: TEXAS, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
April 12: TEXAS, Noon (SEC)
April 13: TEXAS, Noon (SEC)
April 15: MIAMI (OHIO), 7 p.m. (SEC)
April 18: At Tennessee, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
April 19: At Tennessee, 6 p.m. (SEC+)
April 20: At Tennessee, 1 p.m. (SEC+)
April 22: LOUISVILLE, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
April 25: SOUTH CAROLINA, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
April 26: SOUTH CAROLINA, 4:30 p.m. (SEC+)
April 27: SOUTH CAROLINA, 1 p.m. (SEC+)
April 29: At Western Kentucky, 7 p.m. (ESPN+)
May 2: At Mississippi State, 7 p.m. (SEC+)
May 3: At Mississippi State, 3 p.m. (SEC+)
May 4: At Mississippi State, 1 p.m. (SEC)
May 9: OKLAHOMA, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
May 10: OKLAHOMA, 12:30 p.m. (SEC)
May 11: OKLAHOMA, 1 p.m. (SEC+)
May 13: NORTHERN KENTUCKY, 6:30 p.m. (SEC+)
May 15: At Vanderbilt, 7 p.m. (SEC+)
May 16: At Vanderbilt, 7 p.m. (SEC+)
May 17: At Vanderbilt, 3 p.m. (SEC+)
May 20-25: SEC Tournament at Hoover, Ala.