Strickland, Kentucky Jump on West Virginia Early; Cats Stay Alive in NCAA Tournament

"Our guys just executed at a super high level."

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione has been down the road he and his team found themselves on this weekend before. 

Entering Sunday facing elimination, needing to win three games in a row, he was quick to remind a room of reporters just that following a 5-3 loss to Indiana on Saturday night, pointing to what the Wildcats did back in 2017, his first year as UK skipper. 

Kentucky lost to NC State after defeating Ohio in the first game of the Lexington Regional that season. Needing a big rally at Cliff Hagan Stadium, Mingione's group rallied, coincidentally eliminating Indiana, then defeating NC State twice to advance to the first Super Regional in program history. 

"I told them, I said, 'hey, look, the bad news is we lost. The good news is I've been here and done this.' This is exactly what happened in 2017," he said. "We won the first game, lost the second game. Proceeded to win three in a row. That's what it's going to take to do it again." 

Entering the same exact spot on Sunday afternoon, Mingione delivered a similar message to his team: 

"It's going to take 18 innings. The way we're going to do that is one at a time. We've got to get our bodies ready. We've got to get focused on that ... we have to do it literally pitch by pitch. I know that sounds like coach-speak but that's how it works." 

Message received, in the form of six shutout innings from right-hander Austin Strickland and nine hits, seven of which came with runners on base, nullifying a deadly theme that has plagued UK, which blanked West Virginia 10-0 for its second postseason shutout in three days. 

"What a start at the time where we needed it the most. His competitive spirit shined today. Our guys just love playing behind him," Mingione said postgame of his starter. "Obviously he got us -- I thought the first inning was great. He rammed the ball in the strike zone. Got a good, quick inning, allowed our offense to score two. From there on I felt we played our best style of baseball, where we got a lead, we added to our lead. And we pitch and defend at a super high level, but it all started with Austin."

Right fielder Nolan McCarthy tallied an RBI double and a two-run home run to pace the Bat Cats, who more than doubled their run total in the Lexington Regional in the first of what will now be two games on Sunday for the No. 12 overall seed in the tournament. 

Catcher Devin Burkes collected three RBIs on a bases-clearing double in the bottom of the eighth, bringing his regional total to three hits and five runs driven in. Left-hander Magdiel Cotto hurled a pair of scoreless innings in relief, then made way for usual right fielder James McCoy, who found a scoreless top of the ninth to seal the deal. 

The Cats struck quick against the thin WVU pitching staff, which started Grant Siegel, a right-hander with a 4-2 record and 5.18 ERA. After Jackson Gray was hit by a pitch, Jase Felker picked up his fourth hit of the weekend, executing a hit-and-run that sent Gray all the way home. 

A grounder advanced Felker 90 feet before Émilien Pitre slashed one to first base for an RBI groundout, doubling the advantage for Strickland, who made just his second start of the season on Sunday. 

"I've been feeling really good in my delivery, really good with what my pitches are doing, where they're going to move, when they're going to move," Strickland said. "And there's a lot of confidence that comes from that, knowing your stuff and knowing yourself."

West Virginia put baserunners on in three of the first four innings against the junior righty, but failed to push across a run. The Mountaineers used a hit-and-run of their own to put runners on the corners with one out in the top of the third, as Big 12 Player of the Year J.J. Wetherholt blazed a line drive into right field. 

Strickland — who earned the win, his fourth of the season — picked up a pair of Ks to retire the side, freezing Logan Sauve looking, then getting Landon Wallace to chase outside the zone. 

"They've got their guys, their top-of-the-order guys. They're all really good. And J.J. Wetherholt is a really good bat. Our game plan was just pitch to our strengths," Strickland said. "We have what might not be their strengths, but hitting is really hard. So you just pitch to your good strengths and you and ram it in there and you prove that they can hit it. More times than not good things are going to happen."

UK added a third run in the bottom of the second, thanks to McCarthy's first extra-base hit of the afternoon. He ripped a liner at the 3B Sam White, who olé'd the ball with his glove, letting it roll to the wall in the left-field corner as Reuben Church chugged home. 

West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey went to the bullpen after Siegel went just one time through the order in 1.1 innings, calling on left-hander Maxx Yehl. Up stepped Gray, still searching for his first knock of the weekend. He smoked a line drive that happened to find the glove of the 1B Grant Hussey, who had an easy double-up on Grant Smith, tapping the bag to end the threat. 

Another run-scoring chance presented itself in the third, as UK continued the hit-and-run parade, with Pitre sending a ball into the gap. Burkes was the runner, taking off from first, he motored all the way to the plate and appeared to beat the throw, but his foot never actually touched home plate. After being called safe, a review led to it being overturned, keeping the lead at 3-0. 

Strickland worked around a one-out walk in the fourth and was then rewarded for his troubles in the bottom half of the inning. Following a one-out walk issued by All-Big 12 reliever Carlson Reed, McCarthy — who had played just twice in the month of May — delivered his second home run of the season, taking a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right-center, just to the left of the scoreboard to make it 5-0. 

"We just felt like Nolan had been taking really good BPs," Mingione said of McCarthy. "He's been a phenomenal teammate throughout this time. And Nolan, he's another one of these unselfish guys. We have a lot of really good players. You don't get to be in a position we're in without having really good guys on the bench waiting their turn."

Reed then unraveled in the fifth, as an error and HBP came before 1B Hunter Gilliam rifled an RBI single up the middle for a sixth unanswered run. Strickland finished his beautiful outing with a one-two-three top of the sixth, closed out by fanning Hussey on three pitches. 

UK added a run in the seventh via an RBI single from Church, then three more in its final time up to bat, thanks to another misplayed ball from the 3B White that was ruled a three-run double for Burkes. 

"For us to shut that team out Strick and Mag (Cotto) and James (McCoy) -- I thought James threw great. You just don't do that to that team, that offense, what they can do. They're a special team. They won 40 games. Our guys just executed at a super high level," Mingione said.

Kentucky will return to the diamond at Kentucky Proud Park on Sunday night, taking on the Indiana Hoosiers at 6 p.m. EST. The Cats must beat the Hoosiers twice to advance to their second Super Regional in program history. 

A game recap of Kentucky's 4-0 win over Ball State can be found HERE, while more on reliever Mason Moore can be found HERE.

A game recap of Indiana's 5-3 win over the Wildcats can be found HERE.

• For a complete preview of the action this weekend in Lexington, click HERE.
• For some UK baseball postseason lore, click HERE.
• Everything Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said about the draw HERE.
• More on Mingione HERE.
• More on Kentucky's pitching staff heading into the postseason HERE.
• Find out which Kentuckians are returning to their home state to play HERE.

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