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Kentucky baseball pushed to brink with Regional loss to West Virginia
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Kentucky did not trail for a single second through the first 8 innings of Friday’s opener at the Clemson Regional.
Facing the 2-seed in the regional, West Virginia, to begin the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning. A Mountaineer error with 2 outs on the board scored 2 Wildcats and gave Kentucky some breathing room. That lead had vanished by the end of the sixth, but Kentucky kept things knotted at 3-3 heading into the ninth.
With runners on first and second, Luke Lawrence struck out swinging to strand 2. West Virginia’s leadoff batter doubled to open the ninth and then advanced to third on a passed ball. A sac-fly from WVU third baseman Armani Guzman brought the baserunner home and walked the Wildcats off, 4-3.
With the loss, Kentucky (29-25) now faces the prospect of elimination. It will play the loser of Clemson-USC Upstate on Saturday in a win-or-go-home game.
Late-game collapses have plagued the Wildcats of late. In the series sweep at the hands of Vanderbilt to close out the regular season, Kentucky twice surrendered ninth-inning leads. On Friday, Simon Gregersen took the loss, his sixth of the season.
Gregersen replaced Ben Cleaver in the seventh and quickly retired the first 6 batters he faced. West Virginia was hitting him, but it couldn’t reach base. Brodie Kresser got hold of his second pitch from Gregersen to lead off the ninth and sent it down the left field line.
Then Guzman brought him home.
Kentucky ended the day with 5 hits. West Virginia’s Griffin Kirn drew the start on the mound and struck out 7 Kentucky batters while giving up just 1 earned run. Reese Bassinger pitched the final 1.2 innings and didn’t give up a hit. Kentucky’s only base-runners against Bassinger came courtesy of a throwing error and an intentional walk.
The Wildcats will play again on Saturday at noon ET. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
RELATED: Residents in the Bluegrass State who are looking to bet on the NCAA Tournament can do so with this DraftKings Kentucky promo code. New users get $150 in bonus bets when they make their first wager.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
