Kentucky Remaining 'Business as Usual' With LSU Super Regional on Horizon

BATON ROUGE, La. — While both heat strokes and rain delays are in the cards at Alex Box Stadium this weekend, the hype is palpable on the Bayou.

Kentucky and LSU are set to duke it out in the Baton Rouge Super Regional for one of eight spots in the 2023 College World Series next week in Omaha. It's business as usual for both squads, though a setting of this magnitude is still new for the Wildcats.

Head coach Nick Mingione and veteran right-handed pitcher Darren Williams spoke to reporters on Friday for the final time before the best-of-three series attempts to begin at 3 p.m. EST on Saturday.

Mingione's team has carried a cool, calm and collected manner all season. While the stakes are high as ever, that isn't changing over the next three days.

"We just went business as usual," he said. That's one thing I appreciate about our team and I've said this all year long, you know, they're really good at doing the next thing."

Coming off an emotional Lexington Regional that saw the Cats come out of the loser's bracket to win three games in a row and punch a ticket to supers, acknowledging the moment and momentum that came from Monday night's win over Indiana would be easy to do.

That's not the way UK is wired, however. "Every win has an expiration date," Mingione has said multiple times this season, even the big ones. There may be jitters when it takes the field for the first time on Saturday, but they won't last long.

"We're ready for it. It's relaxed," Williams said. "I think we've grown up a lot."

There's no room for jitters in the first place. Williams and the rest of the pitching staff know that, because they witnessed what can happen when LSU's offense gets going like it did against them back in mid-April during a regular season series.

"We're gonna have to be ready to play. They're the most talented team in the country," he said. "They're an extremely talented team and we know that our talent level isn't going to just win us the game like it has at some points this year. We're gonna have to come out and play really sound, clean baseball. We're gonna play really hard and really focused."

Finding zen at The Box will be easier for Kentucky, not just because of the amount of veterans on the team, but because it's already played three games in that raucous environment.

A Super Regional crowd will likely turn things up a notch, but there won't be that brand new feeling that Mingione had previously said he couldn't prepare his team for earlier this season.

"I had multiple guys come up to me — 'coach I just feel so much better knowing that we've been here.' ... you could just tell they were very comfortable and they were focused, and I know this fan base, they'll do everything they can to make our guys uncomfortable," Mingione said.

The pressure of a moment as big as a Super Regional is often highlighted on what it does to the players, but Mingione is feeling different emotions as well. LSU head coach Jay Johnson is someone Mingione considers a good friend, and vice versa.

While he takes solace in knowing that at the very least, one of either him or Johnson will be headed to the CWS, he's making sure to put any extra feelings that may be in play away.

"You do have to put that aside. When it did come out that we were paired up with them, there was a part in my mind where I was happy, because that just meant one of us are gonna go to Omaha," Mingione said. "When you have a friend like I do in Jay, outside of you playing against them, you just don't root against your friends. That wouldn't be a true friendship."

The deck is stacked in favor of the Tigers. Luckily for Mingione, that's just the way his team likes it:

"Our guys truly do care. They love each other and they do feel like 'hey, people have counted us out, right?' When I looked at the preseason rankings and looked at all the other picks, nobody had us in a super."

Game one between No. 5 LSU and No. 12 Kentucky on Saturday, June 10 is set for 3 p.m. EST. Times for games two and three (if necessary) are still to be determined.

How Division-III roots are pushing Jackson Gray to the finish line in a special season HERE.

Roommates, Kentuckians, Brothers: More on Darren Williams and Mason Moore HERE.

The King of Work: More on catcher Devin Burkes and his MVP honors HERE.

Game recap of Kentucky's Regional-clinching win can be found HERE.

How getting hit in batting practice helps Kentucky HERE.

How hard conversations molded RHP Austin Strickland HERE.

Want the latest on national football and basketball recruiting, including Cats targets? Head over to SI All-American for the latest news, blogs, and updates about the nation's best prospects.

Sports Illustrated also offers insight, information and up to the minute details for gamblers. Check it out here.