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Brown: Kentucky baseball run fueled by Nick Mingione’s change of heart, transfer players

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Brown: Kentucky baseball run fueled by Nick Mingione’s change of heart, transfer players


The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 NCAA baseball season a month into play, yet it helped transform Kentucky for the better.

The Wildcats might not be playing Oregon State in the NCAA Tournament Super Regionals this weekend had it not been for the changes UK baseball coach Nick Mingione made as a result of his unexpected spring four years ago.

Mingione took the Cats to their first super regional in program history during his first season in 2017 with a roster he largely inherited from former coach Gary Henderson.

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But in 2018 they failed to reach the NCAA Tournament, and in 2019 — after posting the only losing season of Mingione’s tenure — they didn’t make the postseason at all, including the SEC Tournament.

So with the season canceled in 2020, and not many places to go while the pandemic had the nation on lockdown, Mingione began calling former players. He wanted a deeper insight into what worked and what didn’t from his coaching approach.

He wanted to know how he could be better.

Those former players didn’t hold back from offering real insight. One of the points Mingione took to heart was in how he built relationships.

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As a first-time head coach, he may have taken for granted the continual work he needed to do in that regard. But it was clear to Mingione that he needed to show a different side of himself to the players, not just what he displayed as a coach on the field.

“I needed to meet them where they were at,” Mingione said. “It couldn’t just be one way or no way. So I’ve just had to learn how to adjust and adapt and continue to, once you get them here, to develop the relationship piece with them.”

Mingione said he also took from those conversations some ideas on how to “continue to build our team culture and to let them take more ownership in the program.”

That advice became particularly relevant as Mingione tapped into the transfer portal to help build the Cats.

Their roster got enhanced with the additions of players including designated hitter Nick Lopez (USC), third baseman Mitchell Daly (Texas) and first baseman Ryan Nicholson (Cincinnati), a Louisville native who played at St. Xavier High School.

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Four of UK’s top five batters in terms of hits, home runs and RBIs came from the portal. Two of their regular starting pitchers — Trey Pooser (Charleston) and Dominic Niman (Central Connecticut) — did, too.

Mingione didn’t just go after talent, he pursued players who would be the right fit in the locker room and on the field, which is a distinction he didn’t always acknowledge during his first few seasons.

“Now we have the right people here,” Mingione said.

Lopez is an example of how they got it right.

UK is his fourth school after starting at Illinois-Chicago and spending a year at Santa Ana Community College.

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UK assistant coach Austin Cousino had ties to people who knew Lopez well to get a feel for his character. Assistant coach Nick Ammirati evaluated how he’d fit in as a player. They reached the conclusion that he could be developed into a solid player.

“He could switch hit, and he didn’t bat right-handed last year,” Mingione said. “Give coach (Ammirati) a lot of credit, to make his right-hand swing better, and I thought that really helped him.”

Lopez, who at times last season batted eighth in the USC lineup, leads the team in doubles and triples. UK primarily uses him as its cleanup batter, and he’s responded with a .356 batting average this season and was named first-team All-SEC.

The Cats’ historic run to capturing their first SEC regular-season title since 2006 and claiming the No. 2 overall national seed wouldn’t have been possible without the transfers. And it wouldn’t have happened without the transition Mingione made post-pandemic.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.

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Trump takes his war against Thomas Massie straight to his home Kentucky district

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Trump takes his war against Thomas Massie straight to his home Kentucky district


WASHINGTON — President Trump will use his stop in Kentucky on Wednesday to try to get his congressional nemesis out of office.

His target is Rep. Thomas Massie, a seven-term congressman who the White House has named the “Democrats’ favorite member.”

Trump endorsed Massie’s primary opponent, Ed Gallrein, who will be at the event in Hebron, Ky., per his campaign. The president will also be making a stop in Ohio.

President Trump will campaign in Kentucky on Wednesday against Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) AFP via Getty Images

Hebron is located in Boone County, Ky., just south of Cincinnati.

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The White House made its feelings on Massie clear.

“You can have differences, but you have to be constructive.  He is not constructive. In fact, he’s the Democrats’ favorite member,” a senior administration official told The Post. 

Massie has outraged the White House on multiple occasions: he refused to support Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which was the president’s signature domestic policy agenda; he criticized Trump’s foreign policy and accused him of executive overreach on the attacks on drug boats and Iran; and he led the charge on demanding the Justice Department release all its files in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Now Trump is going to Massie’s district along the Ohio River to campaign against him, with the primary election just a little more than two months away, on May 19th. 

Massie won’t be there.

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US Representative Thomas Massie questions US Attorney General Pam Bondi at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has outraged the White House on numerous occasions AFP via Getty Images

“Congressman Massie will not be attending as he has a previously scheduled official event,” his campaign told The Post. 

Trump has railed against Massie as “the worst Republican.” 

He took a swipe at his biggest naysayer when he spoke to House Republicans at their retreat at Trump Doral on Monday.

“The Republican Party has fantastic spirit, the level I don’t think has been seen before,” Trump said. “We have to get a couple of people on board, which at least one case is virtually impossible. I wonder who that might be, sick person.”

It’s believed he was talking about Massie, who was not seen in the audience. 

In contrast, Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, has praised Trump, his policies and his handling of the war in Iran.

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For his part, Massie has been posting Trump’s videos and comments attacking him, hoping to turn the criticism from the president into support from voters.

The May primary will be a test of Trump’s power with Republican voters. It’ll also be seen as a barometer of Trump’s messaging on the economy. 

The White House has argued the cost of living is down but rising gas prices – from the attack on Iran – have dominated the news. Still, the president will tout his work on the issue. 

“President Trump will visit the great states of Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic victories and detail his administration’s aggressive, ongoing efforts to lower prices and make America more affordable,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston told The Post. 

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Northern Kentucky Norsemen claim Kentucky state hockey championship

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Northern Kentucky Norsemen claim Kentucky state hockey championship


Northern Kentucky brought home the Kentucky High School Hockey league state championship once again.

The Northern Kentucky Norsemen defeated Owensboro in dominant 5-0 fashion on March 8 to hoist the trophy. The Norsemen, comprised of players from schools across Northern Kentucky, earned their fourth state title since 2017. The Norsemen previously won in 2017, 2019 and 2023.

After entering the tournament as the top-seeded team, two wins brought the Norsemen to a 27-12-2 final record.

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The Norsemen’s defense was in peak performance in the finals. Despite Owensboro getting off over 30 shots, senior goalkeeper Chase Bender kept a clean sheet.

On offense, junior Trevor Bauwens led the Norse, finishing the season with 35 goals and 12 assists. Other key offensive performers were seniors Mitchell Kirby and Samuel Mouser. Kirby ended the year with 19 goals and 22 assists, while Mouser had 16 goals and a team-best 30 assists.

Northern Kentucky is now set to represent the state in the USA Hockey High School National Championships. The tournament be held March 18-22 in Plymouth, Minnesota.



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Data centers, election changes and other bills moving in Kentucky

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Data centers, election changes and other bills moving in Kentucky


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FRANKFORT, Ky. — If the current legislative session was the Kentucky Derby, we’d be coming around the final turn and entering the stretch.

Feb. 9 marks the 42nd day of the 2026 Kentucky General Assembly, with 18 to go. Lawmakers will continue to meet daily for the next three weeks until the veto period begins in early April, with two more days at the Capitol after that for legislators to vote on overriding potential vetoes.

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The filing deadlines for new bills were last week, and many pieces of legislation are moving quickly in Frankfort. Here’s a quick look at bills that advanced last week that will be worth watching:

SB 8 — A reworked PSC

Senate Bill 8 would change the member requirements for the Kentucky Public Service Commission — which regulates more than 1,100 utilities operating statewide — and add two new members who would be appointed by the state auditor, effectively diluting the governor’s power or oversight of PSC membership.

Under the bill, the chair of the commission would be elected amongst the commissioners, not appointed by the governor. The chair’s salary? Also determined by the commissioners.

Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, the bill’s sponsor, said the legislation will help support Kentuckians in reviewing utility rate cases and hopefully hasten the process.

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Critics of the bill raised concerns about a section that would make the attorney general the sole representative for customers, requiring advocacy groups to prove a “special and unique” interest in the case — likely cutting advocacy groups out of the picture and preventing them from intervening in cases.

While on the floor, Smith introduced an amendment removing that section and creating a framework to allow advocates and organizations with legitimate interests to intervene.

Although the bill has passed the Senate, it will likely receive pushback from the governor’s office. In a Team Kentucky press conference, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear criticized the bill and the Republican-led legislature’s attempts at moving power from the governor’s office to the state auditor.

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“They’ve done these shenanigans for six straight years,” Beshear said. “This is my sixth session as a governor, four as attorney general and a couple of special sessions. I’ve never seen them try to move something from a Republican officeholder to a Democratic officeholder, but I’ve seen them try to move a whole lot in the other direction.”

The bill passed 30-5 through the Senate on March 6. It now heads to the House.

SB 199 — Pesticide warnings

Senate Bill 199, sponsored by Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, would make any pesticide registered with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture or the Environmental Protection Agency that has an EPA-approved label automatically fit Kentucky’s warning label requirements. If passed, that would make it much more difficult for Kentuckians to sue pesticide manufacturers for adverse health risks later on.

Although it might not seem controversial at first glance, the bill united both hardline Republicans and Democrats on the Senate floor, with many raising concerns about the health risks of pesticide use. Several Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, Sen. Philip Wheeler, R-Pikeville, and Sen. Shelly Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, spoke against the bill and questioned the lobbying power of chemical companies that manufacture pesticides.

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Wheeler brought up previous chemical agents that were found to be major causes of cancer, including DDT and Agent Orange, as well as the $7.25 billion proposed settlement from Bayer to resolve thousands of lawsuit that claim its weedkilling product Roundup caused cancer.

“If we give immunity in these cases, we’re essentially saying, if these claims are later proven to be true, and some of them are in pending litigation, we’re basically saying that these Kentuckians don’t matter, these Kentuckians don’t deserve to collect,” Wheeler said.

The bill passed through the Senate on March 5 with a 23-13 vote and will head to the House.

HB 534 — Elections omnibus

House Bill 534, from Rep. DJ Johnson, R-Owensboro, drew significant scrutiny before passing through the House. The elections legislation with several notable changes to current law moved to the Senate on a 53-40 vote on March 5, with several Republicans joining Democrats in opposition.

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Some of the bill’s notable provisions include:

● Monthly reviews of noncitizens on Kentucky voter rolls, with a requirement to remove names of ineligible voters and notification sent to the state’s attorney general, along with authorization for the State Board of Elections to work with the federal government to identify noncitizens who are registered to vote;

● Removing names of individuals convicted of a felony whose cases are currently on appeal from voter rolls;

● Allowing candidates for judicial office to publicly discuss their political party affiliation;

● And allowing Kentucky politicians who currently hold elected federal office to be a candidate for two different federal offices in one election, if one of the offices is decided by the United States Electoral College. The only office that applies to is U.S. president.

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U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican who has not hesitated at times to vote against President Donald Trump’s policies, has not shut the door on speculation he may make a run for the White House in 2028. He would also be up for reelection that year as a U.S. senator, a role he’s held since early 2011. State Rep. Joshua Watkins, D-Louisville, was the only representative to speak out against the provision during the March 5 vote on the House floor.

Other Democrats spoke up with concerns about disenfranchising voters appealing felony convictions, in the event the verdicts against them were to be later overturned. And multiple party members were critical of the provisions pertaining to noncitizens, with Rep. Adrielle Camuel, D-Lexington, calling them “another example of a nonproblem” aimed at riling up voters to be concerned about “a very major situation that isn’t actually happening.”

The bill advanced on a relatively narrow margin and is pending in the Senate.

HB 593 — Data center energy costs

House Bill 593 was filed by Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mount Vernon, with a group of five co-sponsors that includes House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect. The legislation would take steps to ensure companies hoping to build data centers in Kentucky are legitimate and are able to take on additional energy costs instead of dropping them on consumers.

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The bill from Bray, who previously co-chaired the legislature’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force, includes several clauses regulating data centers, which are critical for AI usage but often require huge amounts of energy, a hurdle that frequently draws community criticism.

The legislation requires a nonrefundable application fee of at least $75,000 — Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said the clause could help scare off “cowboy developers” who buy large amounts of land in hopes of building a data center on the property but are unfamiliar with the development process — and requires the company to pay for an electric supplier study, with provisions aimed at ensuring the data center does not drive up service rates for non-data center customers.

The bill is on its way to the Senate after passing in the House on a 90-4 vote on March 4. It has not yet been given a committee assignment.

Reach Keely Doll at kdoll@courier-journal.com. Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com. Reach The Courier Journal’s politics team at cjpolitics@courier-journal.com.



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