WVU Baseball All Business in 17-1 Win; On To Omaha

Morgantown, W.Va. — WVU Baseball fell behind 1-0 in the first inning of their Super Regional matchup with Cal Poly on Saturday, June 6, two singles and a sacrifice fly putting the Mustangs in front.

From there the Mountaineers stomped out any chance of Cal Poly working their way back into the series, scoring 17 straight runs — beginning with a seven-run second — as they locked up their first trip to the College World Series in program history. The 16-1 decision also gave West Virginia (45-15) a program record for wins in a single season. They’ll face the winner of the Troy Super Regional between Troy and Little Rock; Troy currently holds a 1-0 series lead, making the “Neal Brown Bowl” with a national championship on the line a legitimate possibility.

Mountaineers Mash

The bottom of the Mountaineers’ lineup powered their offense, as has been the case for much of the postseason. Matthew Graveline doubled and stole third to begin the second, then Matt Ineich walked to put two aboard. A double steal tied the game, and Ben Lumsden hit the first of two opposite field home runs to give West Virginia a lead they never relinquished. Lumsden notched five RBI on the day, giving him a program-record 21 postseason RBI with the Mountaineers.

Tyrus Hall, Armani Guzman and Gavin Kelly joined the home run party in the innings to follow, while Ben Lumsden pushed the lead to double digits with his second blast of the afternoon. Starting pitcher Maxx Yehl, who dealt with shoulder tightness during the Regional round, contributed five innings and four strikeouts before turning the ball over to David Hagen and the rest of the bullpen. West Virginia’s bats maintained pressure throughout, scoring at least one run in six of nine innings.

The heavens opened with two outs in the top of the eighth, delaying the Mountaineers’ Omaha clincher for 98 minutes.