West Virginia Walks Off Kentucky, Advances to Super Regionals

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (43-15) walked off the Kentucky Wildcats (33-23) in the bottom of the tenth inning for the 6-5 win.

West Virginia scratched a run across in the bottom of the first after sophomore Gavin Kelly drove a double that hopped over the left centerfield wall and moved to third on a ground ball from senior Paul Schoenfeld. Then, with Sean Smith facing an 0-2 pitch, the senior swung at pitch in the dirt and it skipped past freshman catcher Owen Jenkins as Kelly coasted home and Smith raced to first for the early 1-0 edge.

West Virginia added to its lead in the third when junior Armani Guzman laid down a bunt for a leadoff single and swiped second on a pickoff attempt before advancing to third on a ground ball from Kelly. Then, senior Mathew Graveline stuck his bat out on the 1-2 pitch, placing a ground ball to short to score Guzman for a 2-0 advantage.

Kentucky redshirt sophomore Hudson Brown put the Wildcats on the board with a solo home run in the fourth.

West Virginia stretched its lead to three in the fifth when Guzman doubled down the left field line and Kelly worked a walk to put two aboard before Schoenfeld skipped an RBI single through the left side. Then, Graveline sliced an RBI double down the right field line for a 4-1 WVU advantage.

Kelly added to the West Virginia total with his third home run of the weekend in the sixth to give the Mountaineers a 5-1 lead.

West Virginia starting pitcher Maxx Yehl came back from an injury he sustained on Saturday in the first game against Kentucky. The redshirt junior tossed five inning and allowed one run on three hits and registered five strikeouts.

Ian Korn took the mound in the sixth. The graduate senior allowed one hit through two innings, but in the eight, the Wildcats chased him out of the game with two outs on the board. Sophomore Tyler Bell and senior Luke Lawrence hit consecutive singles before Brown blasted his second home run of the day to close the gap to one. Then, on the 2-2 pitch to Ethan Hindle, the junior hit a 364-foot home run over the left field wall to tie the game at five.

West Virginia sophomore Chansen Cole came in from the bullpen to register the final out of the frame after starting in the opener against Binghamton on Friday.

In the bottom of the tenth, Kresser hit a leadoff single and senior Ben Lumsden worked a walk. Then, with one out, Guzman line a single to centerfield as Kresser sped around third and into home to walk off the Wildcats 6-5.

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