By: Shanna Rose
CLEMSON, S.C.-The comeback kids did it again.
The No. 2-seeded West Virginia University baseball team pulled out all the stops and came-from-behind to defeat No. 3 Kentucky 13-12 to win the Clemson Regional and advanced to the Super Regionals on Sunday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Trailing 12-7 in the eighth, Armani Guzman led off the inning with a single through the right side. Logan Sauve reached on an infield single and Grant Hussey walked to load the bases.
Sam White walked in a run before Gavin Kelly’s base hit made it a 12-10 contest. Ben Lumsden, who played a crucial role in Saturday’s comeback, was up to the challenge again. With two outs, he hit the ball to left field, tying the game. Then Guzman came through and sliced a ball into right field, giving the Mountaineers the lead.
Griffin Kirn came on in the ninth to close out the game. He got the first batter to fly out before giving up a base hit. He struck out the next batter and got a fly ball to center field to end the game.
Guzman went 4-for-5 with three RBI and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Clemson Regional.
Logan Sauve and Lumsden both had two hits for WVU (44-14).
Benjamin Hudson earned the win for the Mountaineers while Kirn picked up his first save.
Carson Hansen had three hits for the Wildcats (31-26).
Sauve gave WVU a 1-0 lead with a solo shot over the left center wall.
In the second, Robby Porco walked the bases loaded and Reese Bassinger came on and gave up a single to Devin Burkes to give Kentucky a 2-1 lead. An infield single loaded the bases again and Cole Hage’s single up the middle gave the Wildcats a 4-1 lead.
Kentucky added a run in the third and the fourth to take a 6-1 lead.
As the theme of the regional so far went, the Mountaineers weren’t about to go away without a fight. In the bottom of the fourth, a pair of singles and a hit batsman loaded the bases for Gavin Kelly, who made it 6-2 on a ground ball to short.
With the bases loaded, Lumsden’s base hit up the middle cut the deficit to 6-4. Brodie Kresser reached after being hit by a pitch and Guzman came through again with a single to center field, tying the game at 6-all. Sauve’s bloop grounder back to the pitcher scored Kresser and gave WVU a 7-6 lead.
In the fifth, Kentucky regained a 7-6 lead. Bassinger walked the leadoff batter and back-to-back base hits tied the game. One of Saturday’s heroes Ben McDougal came on but didn’t have the same fate. He hit two batters and walked in the go-ahead run. With the bases loaded and just one out, Carson Estridge came in and struck out the next two batters to limit the damage.
Hudson Brown hit a two-run blast in the sixth put the Wildcats in front 10-7.
Kentucky tacked on another run in the sixth.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mountaineers loaded the bases. Grant Hussey pinch hit and the all-time home run leading delivered a fly ball to the left field wall but was caught for the final out of the inning.
Burkes extended the Wildcats lead to 12-7 in the eighth with a solo home run.
WVU will play the winner of the LSU/ Little Rock final at the Super Regionals next weekend.
This is the second straight trip to the Super Regionals for the Mountaineers and the first under head coach Steve Sabins.
Photo Credit: WVU Athletics
