Oftentimes in sports people say, “one game or at-bat does not define your season,” however for Kentucky baseball’s Ryan Nicholson, one swing has changed his entire season.
Hunter Gilliam was one of the catalysts of the 2023 Super Regional team in his final season of college baseball as he led the Wildcats with 12 home runs while posting a .324 batting average and .551 slugging percentage.
With Gilliam’s departure, it was on head coach Nick Mingione and his staff to try and fill those shoes, so they went to the transfer portal to do so and landed Nicholson from the University of Cincinnati.
Nicholson was coming off an impressive senior season with the Bearcats as he hit 16 home runs and batted .294 on the year. He was also impressed with the glove like Gilliam.
It seemed like the Wildcats had their answer as Nicholson was penciled in at first base on opening day, however the start of the season did not go the way he and the Cats imagined it would.
Nicholson got off to a slow start and saw his playing time decrease to pinch hitting appearances and a start from time to time.
However, this all changed in a home midweek game against Murray State, where Nicholson got the start at first. Coming into his third at-bat, Nicholson was 0-1 with an RBI sacrifice bunt.
In that third at-bat, Nicholson launched a two-run home run over the right field wall and, as he rounded the bases, he screamed and flexed, letting out the emotions of his troubled start.
“I felt like I’ve been putting a little pressure on myself to produce,” Nicholson said about the home run after the win. “I’ve done some things recently, reverting back to what I did in previous years.”
Since that swing, Nicholson has been a different hitter at the plate. That home run swing raised his batting average to .200 and 19 games later his average sits at .312, which is third on the Wildcats.
Nicholson has also upped his home run total to 11, which leads the Wildcats by five in a year where the team has hit 51 home runs, which almost surpasses the team’s total of 54 in all of 2023. With 17 regular season games to play in 2024, it’s almost certain the Bat Cats will surpass this total by a good margin.
In those 19 games since Murray State, Nicholson has only had one game where he did not reach base on a hit or walk and has had nine multi-hit games and three games with three hits.
In the Bat Cats’ most recent game, Nicholson returned to his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. and went 3-4 with three RBIs and a home run.
“Ryan Nicholson, the hometown kid, man, he wanted this one,” Mingione said following the victory.
Looking at a wider scope, Nicholson has hit nine home runs in 15 conference games and is currently in a four-way tie for third place in the SEC since conference play began.
“Focus on my mechanics right before the game, I feel good and then go in there and play not really trying to overthink anything,” Nicholson said about what’s led to his turnaround. “Just, you know, go out there and hit the ball.”
Nicholson’s turnaround has led to him fitting nicely into the shoes he was brought in to fill when Gilliam departed and, in the grand scope of the season, has seen him become integral in the Bat Cats’ greatest SEC start in program history and top three ranking.
Nicholson and UK will return to action on Friday, April 18, from Kentucky Proud Park in a highly anticipated series against the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers. First pitch in game one is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET and will air live on the SEC Network+.
