WVU Baseball Scores Nine-Straight, Walks Off UCF

WVU Baseball melted down in the middle innings of their Saturday, April 4 game against No. 23 UCF, allowing ten runs between fourth and sixth innings and facing an eight-run deficit.

The No. 13 Mountaineers (21-6, 8-3 Big 12) righted the ship in time to save themselves, scoring nine unanswered runs on the way to an 11-10 walk-off win on a Matthew Graveline single.

UCF chased West Virginia starter Maxx Yehl from the game in the fifth inning; following a three-run rally the previous frame, Yehl loaded the bases, queuing manager Steve Sabins to bring in reliever Reese Bassinger. Bassinger couldn’t wipe the slate clean and West Virginia’s deficit grew to 6-2… then the Knights shelled Mac Stiffler for four runs in the sixth as the game seemed to turn into a rout.

Matt Ineich hit a two out, two run homer in the bottom of the frame, helping the Mountaineers capture positive momentum. They chipped away three more runs in the seventh, an Armani Guzman single and a Gavin Kelly double doing the honors, but a two-out rally in the eighth went nowhere and West Virginia trailed 10-7 entering the final frame, their chances dwindling.

Guzman singled and Kelly and Paul Schoenfeld drew walks in the ninth, juicing the bases with nobody out. After a Sean Smith strikeout, Ineich flipped a ball to right that Andrew Williamson misplayed, allowing two runs to cross and putting the winning run at ninth. Zahir Barjam struck out, a play that would’ve ended the game were it not for the Williamson error, then Lumsden ripped a single up the middle to steal the win.

WVU Baseball will attempt to take the series at noon on Sunday, April 5.