Nick Mingione got it right Thursday, the day before Kentucky traveled to Louisville to play the Cardinals for a trip to the College World Series.
“Brutal honesty,” said the UK coach when asked about UK’s opponent, “They’re program is in a different place than ours.”
Friday and Saturday, Louisville proved it. As far as the Kentucky baseball program came this year, challenging for an SEC title, winning 43 games, reaching an NCAA Super Regional for the first time in school history, the Cats have not passed their cross-state rival up I-64.
After Louisville’s 5-2 Friday win, the Cardinals delivered a near carbon-copy performance on Saturday, besting the Cats 6-2 to sweep the best-of-three series and earn the program its fourth CWS berth in 11 years under head coach Dan McDonnell.