Indiana Explodes in Ninth to Beat West Virginia 12-6; Hoosiers to Play Kentucky Saturday Night
LEXINGTON, Ky. — It'll be Wildcats vs. Hoosiers on Saturday night for a spot in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament Lexington Regional.
Following No. 12 overall seed Kentucky's 4-0 win over Ball State on Friday afternoon, West Virginia and Indiana took part in a knock-down drag-out in the nightcap at Kentucky Proud Park.
A back-and-forth affair got out of hand in the ninth inning, as Indiana, the No. 3 team in the Regional, exploded for five runs in its final time up to bat, blossoming what was just a one-run lead.
West Virginia went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, leading to the Hoosiers' 12-6 win. Indiana moves on to the 1-0 game with Kentucky and will look to avenge a loss from earlier this season, when the Wildcats run-ruled the Hoosiers 12-2 on March 14.
Indiana had to make an unexpected pitching change in the third inning, as ace right-hander Luke Sinnard left the game due to injury. With the Hoosiers already carrying question marks on the mound, it looked as though the Mountaineers would take full advantage.
Luckily for coach Jeff Mercer and IU, righty Brayden Risedorph delivered 3.2 innings of relief, throwing 82 pitches, while lefty Ty Bothwell shut down the WVU bats, allowing just two hits and a run in the final 3.1 innings. The Hoosiers bullpen won't be as stacked as the Cats', but it won't be as depleted as it easily could've been.
Down by one run in the seventh, WVU star JJ Wetherholt belted a leadoff double, but the Mountaineer batters couldn't close the deal against Bothwell. Both teams scored a run in the eighth before IU demolished the WVU bullpen in the ninth.
A pair of walks led to a pitching change that saw Mountaineer closer Carlson Reed enter to try and stop any additional damage, but the opposite would ensue. Brock Tibbitts broke things open with a two-run triple, was then driven in by a Carter Mathison single, who was then driven in by a two-run homer off the bat of third baseman Josh Pyne.
In a flash, the final score was 12-6, in favor of the Hoosiers from Bloomington. IU only out-hit WVU 9-8, while the Mountaineers left two more runners on base than the Hoosiers.
West Virginia and Ball State will play Saturday at noon EST in an elimination game, with UK and IU to follow at 6 p.m. EST at KPP.
A game recap of Kentucky's 4-0 win over Ball State can be found HERE, while more on reliever Mason Moore can be found HERE.
- For a complete preview of the action this weekend in Lexington, click HERE.
- For some UK baseball postseason lore, click HERE.
- Everything Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said about the draw HERE.
- More on Mingione HERE.
- More on Kentucky's pitching staff heading into the postseason HERE.
- Find out which Kentuckians are returning to their home state to play HERE.
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