For the second time in his tenure, Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mingione was named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year. Mingione also won the award in 2017.

Mingione guided the Wildcats to the SEC East title for just the second time in school history. Kentucky finished with a 39-12 record, including a 22-8 mark in the SEC. Tennessee shared the SEC East title with Kentucky, which will be the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. Kentucky plays the winner of the Georgia-LSU encounter at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Hoover, Ala.

Nick Lopez was named First-Team All-SEC, while Ryan Waldschmidt was named to the second team. Mitchell Daly, Mason Moore and Emilien Pitre were named to the All-SEC Defensive Team.

As Kentucky’s designated hitter, Lopez a graduate transfer from USC, connected on 70 hits, two triples, six home runs and 47 RBIs. Waldschmidt hit .400 with 16 doubles, 11 home runs and 39 RBIs. He returned from a torn ACL injury this season and enjoyed a successful campaign.

Basketball

Former Kentucky standout Cason Wallace was named to the NBA All-Rookie second team the league announced on Monday.

Wallace, a guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, averaged 6.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists while appearing in all 82 regular-season games for the Thunder, including 13 starts. Wallace shot 49.percent from the floor and 41.9% from 3-point range while also managing 0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks per game. He played in all 82 regular-season games this season.