WVU Baseball Escapes with Win on Ben Lumsden’s Homer

WVU Baseball took the game and the series against UCF on Saturday, April 26, outlasting the Knights 15-10 in a nine inning contest that lasted four hours and 50 minutes.

The Mountaineers (36-5, 15-3 Big 12) leapt out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, loading the bases before Gavin Kelly singled in two runs, Grant Hussey doubled in another, and a single and a sacrifice fly from Brodie Kresser and Spencer Barnett, respectively, each scraped one more run across.

UCF answered back immediately, their first four batters reaching base: two walks, a single, and a three-run home run to slash the deficit to 5-4. The Knights jumped ahead with two runs in the fourth inning. West Virginia managed to tie the game twice in the middle innings — including on a play in the seventh where the Knights had a chance to escape the frame but  lost track of how many outs there were — but UCF regained the lead in the home half of the inning in both cases.

Skylar King put the Mountaineers in front for good with a two run double in the eighth, then West Virginia added two more runs of insurance through productive outs.

Not to be outdone, UCF promptly loaded the bases. Carson Estridge nearly escaped the inning, drawing what looked like a swing and miss on a 3-2 count, but the umpire ruled that Knights’ batter DeAmez Ross held up, walking in a run and allowing the frame to continue.

UCF closed the deficit to 11-10, but Ben Lumsden called game with a three-run home run in the top of the ninth. The Knights responded with two singles against Estridge, but couldn’t scrape a run across.

Things you 𝙖𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 to see!!!@LumsdenBen24 pic.twitter.com/dmitcOcCMB

— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) April 27, 2025

WVU Baseball will look for the sweep at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 27.