West Virginia Eliminates Ball State in Lexington Regional
LEXINGTON, Ky. — After falling apart late in a Friday-night loss to Indiana, West Virginia rebounded on Saturday afternoon, hitting its way past Ball State for a 13-5 win in an elimination game in the NCAA Tournament Lexington Regional.
After failing to record a hit with runners in scoring position in the 12-6 defeat to the Hoosiers, the Mountaineers decided to wail on the Cardinal pitching staff, belting four home runs. Big 12 Player of the Year JJ Wetherholt went 3-for-4 in the win, including a three-run home run in the top of the third.
Ball State rallied for four runs in the bottom half of the inning, collecting six consecutive hits off WVU starter Ben Hampton, all of which came with two outs. That would be the final scoring frame for the MAC Tournament champions, who lost 4-0 to Kentucky on Friday and were eliminated with the defeat on Saturday.
WVU responded with four runs in the top of the fourth, then added an insurance run in the seventh and five more in the ninth.
West Virginia reliever Aidan Major, who entered the game with a 5.44 ERA, slammed the door shut down the stretch, hurling five innings of relief, allowing just one hit while striking out eight.
The win advances the No. 2-seeded Mountaineers, who will now face the loser of Saturday's night game between No. 1 seed Kentucky and No. 3 seed Indiana. First pitch between the Wildcats and Hoosiers is set for 6 p.m. EST and will air on the SEC Network.
The losers bracket game on Sunday will begin at noon EST.
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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