For Kentucky baseball’s new starting pitcher Nic McCay, all it took was six years and a joke to land in Lexington.

Coming off his sixth year of baseball at South Dakota State, McCay was unsure what his next step was going to be. 

“I put my name in the transfer portal as a joke with my dad,” McCay said. “Put your name in the portal and just see what happens, maybe a cool school will call you.” 

Even with his name in the portal, the Iowa native was still actively scheduling job interviews to begin the next steps of his life. 

These jobs ranged from McCay using his master’s degree in sport and recreation along with his passion for golf for a job or joining his mother at Verizon. 

The joke quickly turned into a paradigm shift for the righty when Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Austin Cousino got in contact with McCay. 

“I got off the phone of a zoom call with Coach Cousy, I kind of looked at my dad and I was like, that’s pretty cool, I could play baseball at Kentucky,” McCay said. 

Obviously to reach his seventh year of eligibility, McCay has seen a lot of college baseball, however he has faced a series of hardships that have resulted in the lengthy career. 

The right-hander arrived on the campus of SDS as a freshman in 2019 and wasted no time making a mark as he found his way into the starting rotation.

In his first ever collegiate start, McCay struck out eight in five shutout innings and secured the victory. 

He kept this up throughout his 14 starts and pitched to a 4.08 ERA in 79.1 innings along with 83 strikeouts and a .229 batting average against. 

Little did McCay know that when he walked off the mound after his last start on May 23, 2019, that he would not return to the mound until Feb. 18, 2022. 

This was because of a Tommy John surgery and a global pandemic. 

“The 2020 season was when I had Tommy John for the first time,” McCay said. “I actually got lucky with covid, I got to take a covid redshirt just like everyone else in the country and the second year after that was the medical redshirt.” 

In his return season for the Jack Rabbits, McCay pitched 68.1 innings and accumulated a 5.80 ERA to pair with his 68 strikeouts and .295 batting average against. 

The injury bug unfortunately hit the righty again coming into the 2023 season. 

“I had a nerve surgery to just kind of get the scar tissue out of there. I was still having some pain,” McCay said. “It turned out to be the first Tommy John just didn’t heal correctly so I had to go get it revised before the 2023 season.” 

This second Tommy John surgery sidelined McCay for the entire 2023 season, but he did a more expedited healing process thinking that 2024 would be his last year. 

In that 24 campaign, he earned All-Summit League First Team honors for his 25.1 innings of work. 

These injuries were just as long of a mental journey as they were a physical one for McCay. 

“When I first got hurt back in 2019, I think there was a lot of selfishness and thinking about how it affected me in general,” McCay said. “One thing I like to say now, after six or seven years of college baseball is that if the worst thing, I have to deal with in my life is a baseball injury, then I’ve had a pretty good life.”

After the recruiting process intensified following the zoom call with Kentucky, McCay committed to the Wildcats. In fact, McCay was just a few rows behind home plate for the Bat Cats Super Regional win against Oregon State. 

“The environment was just, I mean you guys were probably all there, it was unbelievable,” McCay said. “I was already committed to that game, so it was pretty awesome.” 

Being in his seventh year of college baseball and being older than three of his assistant coaches, McCay has earned him the nickname “Unc” in the clubhouse. 

Naturally one would assume this automatically makes him a leader, but in McCay’s eyes, he is a leader when it comes to simply playing the game or dealing with injuries, but he’s still leaning on teammates for the newfound spotlight that is SEC baseball. 

“In terms of being in a room with cameras on you, this is pretty new to me,” McCay said. “I’m just leaning on those guys like Jackson [Nove], James [McCoy], Dev [Devin Burkes], Eb [Evan Byers], all the guys that have been here the last couple of years.” 

It did not long for McCay to become a part of the team and his work ethic made an early impression on a returning teammate who was one of the first to meet McCay. 

“Just a dog, he’s one of the guys that shows up first and leaves last,” Jackson Nove said. “I’ve just been really impressed with his work ethic and just his overall attention to detail.” 

One of the unique things about pitchers in baseball is no one is built the same from a personality standpoint. Some will show a ton of emotion and intensity like reliever Robert Hogan, while others will remain someone stoic like last year’s ace Trey Pooser. 

For McCay, it somewhat will depend on the day, however a teammate that has been in the box against McCay during team scrimmages was quick to dismiss the calm nature of the starter. 

“Right now, he looks nice and very cordial but, on the mound, he’s kind of mean,” James McCoy said. “You need someone who sets the tone, and he does a good job of setting the tone and going after it, that’s for sure.” 

Another important aspect of pitching is the battery between pitcher and catcher as it can be essential to success that both men are on the same page. 

Devin Burkes has gained a reputation as one of the leaders for the Bat Cats behind the dish and has already made great strides with the new right-hander to the point where McCay doesn’t feel like the mound is a one-man island when things go south. 

“A lot of times you feel like you’re alone on the mound when stuff is going wrong and lord knows there’s always going to be something going wrong when you’re pitching,” McCay said. “Dev kind of makes it feel like one position, pitchers and catchers.”

So far this season, McCay has made his mark as the ace of the Wildcats in his three starts he has thrown 15.1 innings. 

In those innings, he has given up just one earned run which equates to a 0.59 ERA. The righty has struck out 17 batters and opponents are just hitting .111 off of McCay. 

McCay’s road to Lexington began as a joke, but since landing in the bluegrass he has turned into the ace of Kentucky baseball. 

“I think part of the injuries were just to get me here,” McCay said. “Just to be frank with you, I think the lord wanted me here and supporting the UK team and the guys here.”