Kentucky baseball surrendered a ninth-inning rally that allowed West Virginia to pick up a crushing 11-9 win in the NCAA Regional Final.
In the pairs first meeting this postseason, The Wildcats offense pounced immediately with six runs in the first two innings. In this game, It was West Virginia that struck first with a three-run first inning.
The Wildcats worked back to take their first lead in the fourth inning, before adding two insurance runs in the seventh inning to take a 9-6 lead.
Kentucky held a three-run lead entering the ninth, but West Virginia didn’t lay down. A five-run ninth inning broke a five-inning scoreless streak from the Mountaineers to take an 11-9 lead.
The Wildcats couldn’t scratch a run across in the ninth, resulting in a crushing loss after being three outs away from advancing.
Ben Cleaver got the start for the Wildcats and struggled mightily. Cleaver hit the leadoff batter before walking the next two to load the bases. He also hit the clean up batter to bring a run across, then another run scored on a sacrifice fly.
Cleaver’s start came to a premature finish after he walked the next batter to load the bases again. Ira Austin IV came out of the bullpen and inherited bases loaded with one out.
Austin IV surrendered an RBI-single before recording two outs to escape the inning.
Kentucky responded immediately after Jayce Tharnish and Tyler Bell both reached on errors, and Hudson Brown walked to load the bases. Ethan Hindle brought Tharnish across with an RBI-walk, then Braxton Van Cleave drove in Bell with a single to cut the Mountaineers lead to 3-2.
Tharnish doubled with one out in the bottom of the second inning, then took third on Bell’s groundout. Luke Lawrence drove in Tharnish with an infield single to tie the game at 3-3.
In the next inning, West Virginia got right back out to a three-run lead. Tommy Skelding allowed a run to cross after surrendering three singles, then two more on a fielder’s choice and single.
Skelding issued back-to-back walks to load the bases again, ending his outing, Chase Alderman entered from the bullpen and ended the inning after West Virginia pulled out to a 6-3 lead.
Ethan Hindle led off the third inning with a walk, advancing to third base on a single by Van Cleave, then scored on Carson Hansen’s fielder’s choice to cut the deficit to two runs.
The Wildcats continued to add in the fourth inning, starting with Bell’s 377-foot leadoff home run. Lawrence followed Bell with a double down the left field line, then came across to score the game-tying run on Hindle’s single.
Hindle stole second base then scored on a single by Van Cleave, giving the Wildcats a 7-6 lead.
Alderman pitched two scoreless innings after escaping the third inning, his outing came to an end after allowing a double and a walk to leadoff the sixth inning.
Nile Adcock took the mound in relief. A walk allowed West Virginia to load the bases with just one out. Adcock recorded back-to-back strikeouts to escape the jam and hold onto the Wildcats one-run lead.
After Kentucky went scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings, a two-out rally allowed the Wildcats some breathing room. Tharnish and Bell hit back-to-back two-out home runs to give Kentucky a 9-6 lead.
Adcock held West Virginia scoreless for two more innings, before loading the bases with one out in the ninth.
Jackson Soucie replaced Adcock on the mound. Soucie issued a four-pitch walk to bring a run across, ending his outing after four pitches.
Oliver Boone was the next man up in the Kentucky bullpen, his first batter drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Boone proceeded to balk in the tying run before allowing a two-run go-ahead home run to Paul Schoenfeld.
The Wildcats needed two runs in the bottom of the ninth to keep the game alive, and went scoreless to end the game.
Kentucky and West Virginia will have a rematch on Monday, June 1, in a winner-takes-all game for a trip to the NCAA Super Regionals. The time of first pitch has yet to be determined.
