As the regular season gave way to the postseason for Kentucky baseball, few have stepped up the way Robert Hogan has out of the bullpen.
“This place is unreal,” Hogan said. “There’s no place I’d rather be right now than here in Kentucky playing for this school and this state. Guys too, they are my brothers. Being able to play for these guys, coach Minge (Nick Mingione), everyone, it’s like nothing I could ever ask for.”
The Maplewood, Minnesota, native is in his first season in the blue and white after transferring in from Texas A&M, where he posted a 7.86 ERA in 38 games but struck out a staggering 10.94 batters per nine innings.
Hogan had a decent start to the season before hitting a roadblock as he gave up five earned runs in 5.2 innings pitched against Tennessee and South Carolina. Despite that, in his last seven appearances spanning across 11.2 innings pitched, the righty has only surrendered three earned runs.
The reliever has continued to be thrusted into high leverage situations and has continued to deliver as he pitched three shutout innings, which kept the Wildcats in a game they eventually lost to the LSU Tigers.
“He’s been a beast for us,” starting pitcher Dominic Niman said. “He comes in and we all have confidence that he’s gonna get it done and he’s gonna get guys out.”
In his most recent outing in the Lexington Regional, Hogan shut down a rallying Western Michigan Broncos lineup that had clawed its way back from an 8-0 deficit to cut the score to 8-5, keeping it off the scoreboard by pitching the final 3.1 innings of the game to secure the win.
One of the things anyone will notice on the mound when Hogan pitches is his competitive spirit as he never shies away from emotion whether it’s after a strikeout or coming off the mound after an inning of work.
“He’s confident in everything he does, we’re 100% behind him,” Devin Burkes said. “He acts like a maniac out there, but we love it.”
One element that may go unnoticed on the box score, though, is how good of a teammate he is.
“I asked the team, ‘Hey, who would do anything for you?’ and the team immediately said, ‘Hogie, he’d do anything for me,’” Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said. “He’s just one of those guys, he will serve them, he will do anything for them and it’s pretty impressive.”
As risky as entering the transfer portal can be, it seems like Hogan and Kentucky turned out to be a perfect match.
“BBN is pretty awesome, being here is probably the greatest decision I’ve ever made,” Hogan said. “I couldn’t thank Mingione enough and this place and what it means to me, so playing postseason baseball here means a lot.”
As Kentucky continues its run in the NCAA Tournament, the righty, nicknamed “Bobby Spinz” when he is on the mound, will be a critical part of the bullpen as it continues its quest to reach Omaha for the first time in program history.
