Kentucky baseball is on the brink of history. How did these Wildcats get there?

Saturday night’s 10-0 smackdown of the proud baseball Beavers of Oregon State put the Kentucky Wildcats one victory away from history.

By now, you know what kind of history we’re talking about. Omaha. The College World Series. The holy grail for what is college baseball. The University of Kentucky has never been there. Not once. In fact, Saturday’s romp at Kentucky Proud Park was UK’s first win in five NCAA super-regional games under head coach Nick Mingione, which put the Cats in the position of punching their ticket with a second win over the Beavers on Sunday night.

So let us pause and ask a simple question: How did they get here? How did these Kentucky Wildcats get to this place where no other Kentucky baseball team has been before? Why here? Why now? Why this team?

You can pat UK’s Mitch Barnhart on the back for sticking with Mingione when many other athletic directors would have handed out the pink slip. That’s been documented before and it’s true. But there’s more to it than that, at least more to it with this particular team, especially from what we’ve seen in this postseason.

To me, it starts with attitude. These guys play with attitude. They run. They steal bases. They sacrifice. They dive for balls. They push the envelope. They’re not afraid to take a chance, or wear a pitch, or get under a little skin. If the opponent takes it the wrong way, well, that’s the opponent’s problem. What’s the mindset Mingione preaches? Oh yeah, those three simple words: “We don’t move.”

Take Kentucky’s seven-run seventh inning on Saturday that blew a competitive game wide-open, that turned a three-run UK lead into a 10-run laugher. There were stolen bases in that inning, and runners advancing on wild pitches, and a sacrifice bunt that scored a run when the UK runner beat the tag. And oh yes, there was a two-run homer by Ryan Nicholson, his third in four postseason games.

“That seventh inning, we did everything we like to do,” Mingione said afterward.

“We create chaos, whether on the bases or on defense,” second baseman Émilien Pitre said. “They were expecting it, but they weren’t prepared for it.”

Before that, Saturday night was all about pitching. Since the day Abner Doubleday (supposedly) first tried to hit a hardball with a stick, the game has been all about pitching. “It starts on the mound for us,” Mingione repeated Sunday.

Trey Pooser was terrific. UK’s starter pitched seven innings of one-hit, no-run baseball against one of the best college offenses in the game. That followed up his seven-inning, one-run performance in last Saturday’s 6-1 Lexington Regional win against Illinois. Against Oregon State, Pooser was followed by a pair of perfect innings from lefty reliever Jackson Nove.

That’s the same Nove who combined with Mason Moore and Cameron O’Brien to blank Indiana State 5-0 last Sunday. For those keeping score at home, UK allowed one measly run over three games heading into Sunday night.

Attitude plays a part on the mound, too. Oregon State loaded the bases with one out in the fifth inning on Saturday, in part thanks to an errant Pooser throw to second base. No problem. The College of Charleston transfer merely smiled, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and worked his way out of the inning without allowing a run.

“He’s what a Kentucky pitcher looks like,” Pitre said.

“We have a pitching identity we truly believe in,” Mingione said. “We talk a lot about our pitching staff and how they look. The behavioral piece is so important to us. We’ve had a lot of guys who it at a high level.”

Speaking of performing at a high level, let’s not forget the catcher, either.

“Devin Burkes has been unbelievable,” Mingione said. “There are times where I feel like he is willing our pitchers to make something happen. He’s willing them. His nonverbal communication, his verbal communication, and then the guys on the infield have really played a role in that, too.”

They’ve all played a role. Attitude. Performance. Belief. Pitching. In baseball, in Kentucky baseball, that’s how history is made.

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