The first game in the Clemson Regional went down to the wire against Kentucky and West Virginia. WVU won the game on a walk-off sacrifice fly to win the game 4-3. It was a tightly contested game throughout, and Griffin Kirn pitched an excellent game despite allowing three runs. WVU will advance in the winner’s brackets and plays Saturday at 6 p.m. against the winner of Clemson and USC Upstate. Read more: WVU Stuns Kentucky with a walk-off win.
Recap: WVU Stuns Kentucky with a Walk-Off Win
Griffin Kirn started on the mound for WVU and pitched another excellent game. He did not pitch the complete game like he did in his last start, but he came pretty close. He walked and hit the first two batters of the game but was able to get a double play ball to get out of the jam. Neither team had much trouble until the fourth inning.
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Kentucky started the rally with a one-out double by Ryan Schwartz. Back-to-back singles brought him around to score. A throwing error by shortstop Brodie Kresser cost WVU a couple more runs, but he made up for it later in the game. The Wildcats took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth.
Kirn continued on the mound in the fifth and found more trouble. Cole Hage singled and reached third, but Kirn got the third out before he could score. Armani Guzman singled in the bottom of the fifth with one out to give WVU a baserunner. He stole second to put himself in scoring position. Logan Sauve reached on a throwing error by third baseman Patrick Herrera, and Guzman stopped at third. Kyle West was hit by a pitch following the error to load the bases. Another error from second baseman Luke Lawrence cost the Wildcats two runs to make the score 3-2.
WVU tied the game at three in the bottom of the sixth. Gavin Kelly started the inning with a double down the third base line and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ben Lumsden. Kelly scored on a ground ball by Kresser to tie the game after six innings.
Kirn went into the eighth inning but only faced one batter. He struck out Jame McCoy for the first out of the eighth and was replaced by Reese Bassinger. Bassinger pitched the ninth inning and got into some trouble because of another error by Kresser. He got out of the inning, but Kentucky had two baserunners to make it stressful.
Kresser made up for his errors in the bottom of the ninth. He hit a lead-off double down the left field line to give the Mountaineers a runner in scoring position with no outs. He advanced to third on a passed ball from the new pitcher, Jackson Nove. That set up the sacrifice fly, which was executed perfectly by Armani Guzman.
Key Takeaways
Errors were costly for both sides in this matchup. Kentucky allowed two runs because of errors, as did the Mountaineers. WVU must clean up the defense against Clemson or USC Upstate if they want any shot of winning that game. They got lucky on Friday because Kentucky gifted them two runs on errors, but that will not happen again. Armani Guzman and Brodie Kresser teamed up at the bottom two spots in the lineup to provide a spark. Kresser batted eighth and went one for four with an RBI and run. Guzman batted last and went two for three with an RBI and a run. They combined to record the winning run and did it quickly in the ninth. WVU should fare well if the bottom of the order is putting up these numbers.
Griffin Kirn had another excellent outing. He went 7.1 innings, struck out seven, and allowed five hits. He only gave up one earned run and walked two batters. Kirn has been the best pitcher on the staff for the last month and proved his worth again against Kentucky. Bassinger pitched very well against his seven batters faced. He did not allow a hit, walked one, and recorded one strikeout. He was not rattled by the error in the ninth and gave a gutsy performance to maintain the tied game into the bottom of the inning.
