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Kentucky Wildcats | |
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2024 Kentucky Wildcats baseball team | |
Founded | 1896 |
University | University of Kentucky |
Athletic director | Mitch Barnhart |
Head coach | Nick Mingione (8th season) |
Conference | SEC Eastern Division |
Location | Lexington, Kentucky |
Home stadium | Kentucky Proud Park (from 2019) (Capacity: 4,000) |
Nickname | Wildcats |
Colors | Blue and white [1] |
NCAA regional champions | |
2017, 2023 | |
NCAA Tournament appearances | |
1988, 1993, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, [2] 2023 | |
Regular season conference champions | |
2006 |
The Kentucky Wildcats baseball team represents the University of Kentucky in NCAA Division I college baseball and competes in the Eastern division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The current head coach of the Wildcats is Nick Mingione.
The baseball program, partly hampered by being the northernmost school in the heavily warm-weather SEC (until Missouri's arrival in 2013), has historically achieved only modest success at best. Under longtime coach Keith Madison (1979–2003), the Wildcats had some good teams. However, due to playing in the same league as national powers Florida, LSU (which won five national championships under Skip Bertman from 1991 through 2000), Mississippi State, and South Carolina, regular-season success was rarely rewarded with a postseason berth. In 28 years, Madison was only able to lead the Wildcats to two NCAA tournaments, in 1988 and 1993. The Wildcats won their first three regional games in 1988 to move to within one win of the CWS, but lost twice in the championship round to 1987 national champion Stanford, which went on to successfully defend its title.
Wildcats baseball hit bottom at the turn of the 21st century, with only one winning season from 1997 through 2004, and five straight last-place finishes in the SEC East from 2001 through 2005. In 2003, after Madison's retirement, Kentucky hired Florida assistant John Cohen as head coach. Cohen was able to lead the Cats to a winning overall season in 2005, despite another SEC cellar finish.
Few could have expected the Cinderella season the Cats would have in 2006. They went from worst to first in the SEC, winning a regular-season conference title for the first time in three decades, and being ranked as high as fourth in the country by one major baseball poll during the season. However, the newly energized Kentucky baseball faithful saw the Cats crash out of the SEC tournament early and fail to make it out of the regionals of the NCAA tournament at home.
There were high hopes for the 2007 team and for the most part they delivered. They started the season 19–0 before falling to Arkansas. They then fell into a tailspin but rebounded at the end of the year to just miss the SEC playoffs after a Tennessee Volunteers win. They finished with a 37–19 record. Jason Kipnis, who was an outfielder for that team, is now a second baseman for the Cleveland Indians.
In 2008, Kentucky started off strong posting a 19–0 record and being ranked as high as #4 in the nation. The Wildcats rolled into conference play and began to struggle after being swept by eventual College World Series runner-up Georgia and College World Series participant LSU. The Wildcats finished the season strong and made it into the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats would end up losing to Arizona in the regional final in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Wildcats finished the season with a 44–19 record, the most wins in school history. They finished 25th in the final ESPN/USA Today poll.
The Wildcats slumped back to the SEC's second division in 2009, though they finished two games over .500 overall. Cohen left for Mississippi State after the season, and pitching coach Gary Henderson was named his successor.
In 2012, Kentucky garnered its most successful season ever in program history. Henderson was voted SEC Coach of the Year by the league coaches. Henderson directed the Wildcats to a school-record 45-win season, with UK completing its best finishes in the SEC and NCAA tournaments in school annals. The 2012 season also marked the first time that UK had ever been ranked No. 1. UK finished the season with a No. 11 ranking by Baseball America. UK also achieved a program record by winning seven of ten series in SEC play. UK also ran up a school-record 22-game winning streak, which is the second longest in SEC history.
The Wildcats played their home games on campus at Cliff Hagan Stadium from 1969 through 2018. On October 21, 2016, Kentucky announced plans to build a new stadium, with fixed seating for 2,400, additional grass berm seating for a permanent capacity of 4,000, and the capability to add temporary seating to raise capacity to as much as 7,000. The new stadium, Kentucky Proud Park, opened on February 26, 2019, with a 7–3 win over Eastern Kentucky in front of 4,074 fans. [3]
Dick Howser Trophy [4]
Dick Howser Trophy | ||||
Player | Position | year | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
A.J. Reed | Utility Player | 2014 |
Golden Spikes Award [5]
Golden Spikes Award winners | ||||
Player | Position | year | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
A.J. Reed | Utility Player | 2014 |
The following is a list of Kentucky's All-Americans:
|
Year-by-Year Results | |||||
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Year | Record | Pct. | Notes | ||
1988 | 3-2 | .600 | Northeast Regional | ||
1993 | 0-2 | .000 | Central II Regional | ||
2006 | 2-2 | .500 | Lexington Regional | ||
2008 | 2-2 | .500 | Ann Arbor Regional | ||
2012 | 2-2 | .500 | Gary Regional | ||
2014 | 2-2 | .500 | Louisville Regional | ||
2017 | 3-3 | .500 | Louisville Super Regional | ||
2023 | 4–3 | .571 | Baton Rouge Super Regional |
Several Wildcats players have gone on to play in Major League Baseball.
Position | Name | Bats | Throws | Hometown | Draft Year | Round | MLB Team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OF | Collin Cowgill | R | L | Lexington, KY | 2008 | 5th | Los Angeles Angels |
RP | Scott Downs | L | L | Louisville, KY | 1997 | 3rd | Chicago White Sox |
SP | James Paxton | L | L | Richmond, BC | 2010 | 4th | Seattle Mariners |
RP | Chris Rusin | L | L | Detroit, MI | 2009 | 4th | Colorado Rockies |
RP | Trevor Gott | R | R | Lexington, KY | 2013 | 4th | Washington Nationals |
SP | Alex Meyer | R | R | Greensburg, IN | 2011 | 1st | Minnesota Twins |
RP | Taylor Rogers | L | L | Littleton, CO | 2012 | 11th | Minnesota Twins |
1B | A. J. Reed | L | L | Terre Haute, IN | 2014 | 2nd | Houston Astros |
The Golden Spikes Award is bestowed annually to the best amateur baseball player in the United States. The award, created by USA Baseball and sponsored by the Major League Baseball Players Association, was first presented in 1978. It is given to an amateur player who best exhibits and combines "exceptional on-field ability and exemplary sportsmanship". The award is considered the most prestigious in amateur baseball.
The Dick Howser Trophy is bestowed annually to the national college baseball player of the year. The award is named after former collegiate and Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager Dick Howser, who died of brain cancer in 1987 at the age of 51. In that same year, the award was established by friends of Howser and presented to Mike Fiore, the inaugural winner. It is considered to be the Heisman Trophy of college baseball.
Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium is a baseball venue located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States, located adjacent to Doak Campbell Stadium on the campus of Florida State University. It is the home field of the Florida State Seminoles baseball team of the NCAA Division I Atlantic Coast Conference. It opened in 1983 and was renovated in 2004. The two-year, $12 million renovation project expanded the seating capacity to 6,700.
The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 students attend the university. Historically, the women's teams and athletes were referred to as the "Lady Kats", but all athletic squads adopted the "Wildcats" nickname in 1995. Collectively, the fans of the Kentucky Wildcats are often referred to as the Big Blue Nation. Their main and most intense rival is the University of Louisville. The Wildcats are composed of 25 varsity teams that compete nationally—23 in NCAA-recognized sports, plus the cheerleading squad and dance team.
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John Cohen is the 16th athletic director for the Auburn University Tigers. He is former head baseball coach of Mississippi State University, where he also served as the athletic director from 2016 to 2022.
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The 2014 Kentucky Wildcats baseball team represented the University of Kentucky in the 2014 NCAA Division I baseball season. The Wildcats played their home games in Cliff Hagan Stadium. The team was coached by Gary Henderson, who was in his sixth season at Kentucky.
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Andrew Joseph Reed is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox. He played college baseball at Kentucky and was drafted by the Astros in the second round of the 2014 MLB draft.
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Nick Mingione is a baseball coach and former outfielder, who is the current the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats. He played college baseball at Embry–Riddle University for coach Greg Guilliams from 1997 to 2000.
Kentucky Proud Park is a baseball stadium in Lexington, Kentucky. It is the home field of the University of Kentucky Wildcats college baseball team. Opened in 2018, with the Wildcats playing their first season in the stadium in 2019, it has a permanent capacity of 2,500, with grass berm seating adding more than 1,500 to the total capacity. Temporary seating can be added to bring the capacity to 7,000 for NCAA tournament games.
Madison Paige Lilley is a former American professional volleyball player and current collegiate coach. She is an assistant coach for her alma mater, Kentucky.