WVU Baseball Sees Big 12 Tournament Run End in Blowout

WVU Baseball saw their Big 12 Tournament hopes come to a screeching halt on Friday, May 23 as the Arizona Wildcats steamrollered them 12-1 in the semifinal round.

Despite entering the conference tournament as the regular season champions and No. 1 seed, the Mountaineers (41-14, 19-10 Big 12) now sit amidst a 2-7 cold spell. Barely two weeks ago, they seemed in line to host a regional or even super regional in the NCAA Tournament. Now WVU Baseball will await an at-large bid in the tournament selection ceremony on Monday, May 26.

West Virginia’s pitchers allowed 17 hits from the Wildcats; while their bats racked up 10 hits, they went a miserable 2-for-18 with runners on base, including three double plays.

Arizona got to starter Jack Kartsonas early, charging him with a solo home run on the third batter of the game on the way to a four inning, five earned run performance.

Even after a day off on May 22 thanks to Griffin Kirn’s complete game heroics, West Virginia’s bullpen couldn’t keep the Mountaineers’ bats within striking distance. Arizona continued to feast after chasing Kartsonas from the game, tacking on seven more runs even as head coach Steve Sabins did everything he could to stop the bleeding, giving seven different relievers a chance on the mound. All but two of them allowed at least one run.

Armani Guzman singled to open the ninth inning before the rest of the Mountaineers went down in order, quashing any (miniscule) hope of a rally.