Hard Conversations Helped Kentucky's Austin Strickland Deliver on NCAA Tournament Stage
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione and Austin Strickland shared smiles and shoulder pats on the podium following the Wildcats' 10-0 elimination-game win over West Virginia on Sunday.
Mingione gave a glowing review of the junior out of Winchester, Ohio's start, as he had just hurled 6.0 scoreless innings over a Mountaineer ballclub that entered winners of 40 games in 2023.
"At the very end of the year, when we needed the biggest start of the season, he gave it to us," the seventh-year HC said.
That was only part of the quote, however.
To fully understand the rest of the heartfelt story that Mingione told a host of reporters in UK's team classroom, you have to go back to the beginning of the season, when he and Strickland had to have a couple of tough conversations.
After making 18 appearances as a sophomore a season ago, where Strickland tallied a less than ideal 6.85 ERA across 23.2 innings, he knew he needed to make a jump ahead of his third season as a Wildcat. Cracking the starting rotation was a goal of sorts for the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder.
As the season approached, that goal wasn't reached. Mingione had the heart-to-heart, and instead of it being met with doom and gloom from the righty, Strickland wore it on the chin.
"Austin was one of the guys we just pulled aside and told him, 'hey, Austin, you're not going to be one of the opening day starters, and that could change.' And he wanted to start really bad. And this guy basically said, 'coach, whatever we need to do to help the team win.'"
So, Strickland stayed in the bullpen, working out of a long-relief role while also taking on high-leverage situations throughout the season. He pitched 3.1 and 3.0 innings in his first two outings, then hovered around the 2.0-mark for the middle of the campaign and through a chunk of SEC play.
A need for more length out of the bullpen became clear as the grueling conference schedule took a toll, however. On April 29 at Vanderbilt, he pitched 3.2 innings of relief in a loss, throwing 51 pitches.
A good sign, sure, but reaching that fourth completed inning became, as Strickland put it, "a glass ceiling." If he wanted to try and fit that new starter role, breaking through that threshold was the next step.
"I've always just kind of been like whatever needs to happen to help the team. And like (Mingione) said, did I want to be a starter? Sure. Everybody wants to. But whatever needed to happen. I have a lot of people in my corner. It was really tough to kind of break that 3.2-inning glass ceiling. I was, like, man, if I can just get that last out to get to fourth innings, that's just, you know, you've got to break it," Strickland said.
He finally punched through in his next appearance at home against South Carolina, throwing 5.0 innings, allowing three runs while striking out six in 72 pitches. It was only the second time he had completed 4.0-plus, going all the way back to his second-ever appearance as a Wildcat, which was a start vs. Evansville on March 3, 2021.
"I thought one of his breakthroughs was when he got through four," Mingione said. "He got to the fifth inning about a month ago and it was, like, he was so excited because he had just been going one- or two-inning stints, and he was throwing the ball so well that we just kept giving it to him."
Strickland had to earn the right to last that long on the mound, however. Knowing what he was capable of, it was then him who pulled Mingione aside during the middle of the season, asking to be left in games longer to try and work out of some of the danger that normally would have him pulled in favor of another arm.
Mingione thought back to Strickland's unselfish nature of opening the season in the bullpen, as well as his first two seasons as a Wildcat. He obliged, leading to a string of positive results.
After throwing 4.0 again on the road at Tennessee, Mingione and pitching coach Dan Roszel made the bold move to finally insert Strickland into the rotation, in favor of the struggling Tyler Bosma. His first start of the season came against a top-three Florida team, where he proceeded to throw a career-high 6.2 innings, allowing only three hits and three runs, fanning seven Gators along the way.
Building off that outing, he was then asked to make the biggest start of his career, which came on Sunday afternoon vs. West Virginia in an NCAA Tournament elimination game. The result? His first-ever outing scoreless outing that also went 3.0-plus innings.
In Mingione's eyes, his success is a direct result of his team-first mentality.
"Austin pulled me aside and said, 'Coach, can I have a conversation with you?' And I said, 'sure'. He said, 'Coach, I would like a little longer leash.' He goes, 'if there's any way in the future maybe you could let me finish some of the stuff that I get into.'"
"And I said, 'Austin, you've been here three years. You've been super unselfish, absolutely.' We kept giving him a little bigger leash. He just kept getting better and better and better. And to his credit it started with him in his heart being so unselfish for Kentucky. And at the very end of the year, when we needed the biggest start of the season, he gave it to us. But there's no question in my mind he was blessed because of how unselfish he was earlier in the year."
As gratifying as it may be, the success is no surprise to Strickland.
"I really appreciate Coach having that conversation with me and him trusting in me to give my best effort," he said. And I believe in myself and I believe in my whole team. But I just believe that when I'm out there I'm the best competitor there is."
Strickland and the Wildcats now look to avoid elimination once more on Sunday, rematching the Indiana Hoosiers, needing to win two games in a row to punch a ticket to a Super Regional. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. EST.
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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