MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Has your heart stopped pounding yet?
West Virginia University’s Cardiac, Comeback Kids did it again on Sunday night in Clemson, South Carolina, by overcoming 6-1 and 12-7 deficits to defeat Kentucky 13-12 and capture the Clemson Regional.
“A special win,” West Virginia coach Steve Sabins said afterward. “I think this team has been doubted throughout the season, and it’s the most resilient bunch of kids I have ever had the pleasure of coaching.”
For the second consecutive year, the Mountaineers are going to a Super Regional, the site to be determined once tonight’s LSU-Little Rock game in Baton Rouge is completed.
“I’d think it would be fair to say we’re a top-16 program in the country, for the last two years at least,” Sabins noted.
Two nights ago, the 24th-ranked Mountaineers rallied with four runs in the top of the ninth and then brought in Bridgeport’s Ben McDougal to register the final out in a heart-stopping 9-6 victory over 12th-ranked Clemson, an 11 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
On Friday night, it was regional MVP Armani Guzman’s sacrifice fly to score Brodie Kresser in the bottom of the ninth that gave West Virginia a walk-off, 4-3 victory over the Wildcats.
“That’s the best three-game set I have ever been a part of as a player or as a coach,” Sabins observed. “It literally had everything you could imagine, including walk-offs, a six-run eighth, heroic plays, performances and at-bats. It was the best television you could ever watch for three straight games.”
Guzman, a sophomore utility infielder from New York City who prepped at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in rural Georgia, has been a late-season revelation. He got a couple hits in the Big 12 Tournament blowout loss to Arizona and that earned him a spot in the regular lineup for the NCAA Tournament.
He responded with eight hits in 12 at bats and drove in six runs in the Clemson Regional.
“More than just myself … for the team, it just shows that we all have it,” Guzman said. “I was a guy who didn’t play the last month and a half and now I’m here in this position.”
Saturday’s triumph at Clemson gave WVU 24 road wins, the most in college baseball. Adding its three neutral site victories, the Mountaineers’ 27 wins away from Kendrick Family Ballpark are three more than the 24 home games they have played in Morgantown in 2025.
For comparison’s sake, those 24 road wins equal the total number of road games Kentucky played this season – the most of any team in the SEC.
No. 1-seed Vanderbilt, prematurely knocked out of the tournament on its home field, played 19 road contests this year, which is about right in the middle of the pack for SEC teams.
Tennessee, facing Wake Forest tonight at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, and Arkansas, which defeated Creighton in Fayetteville last night to advance to the Super Regionals, have played the fewest road games in the SEC with 15.
LSU, meeting Little Rock tonight at home for the right to move on to the Supers, has played 16 road games.
That’s a great advantage when you are almost always playing games on favorable terms! LSU has batted last 38 times at Alex Box Stadium, not to mention the instances it was the home team in its six neutral-site games this year.
So, it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise watching West Virginia produce these late-inning rallies to win baseball games. This team is battle-hardened and tough.
“People stepped up and just kept playing hard, regardless of the score or situation,” Sabins said.
“It was really difficult because there were some pitchers who really showed great tonight, but we knew we’d have to use them tomorrow if we didn’t tie the game or get the lead,” the first-year coach explained. “The math just didn’t add up tomorrow for trying to piece together nine innings. So, you have to play aggressive and try and win, but I needed the players’ help today because I was having to make aggressive moves with the pitching staff to try and keep the score where it was.
“It was a really weird balancing act that we haven’t had to do much this year,” he added.
From a 30,000-foot perspective, the Mountaineers’ season profile probably looks rather ordinary to outsiders at first glance.
West Virginia’s strength of schedule rating of 93 isn’t awe-inspiring, nor is its 220 nonconference strength of schedule. The Mountaineers were just 8-5 in Quadrant 1 games and 11-6 in Quad 2 games.
But go and look at where most of these were played – on other teams’ fields.
I don’t care where you are playing, it’s not easy getting those last three outs on the road, and you can’t run out the clock in baseball.
West Virginia (44-14) has gotten outs 25, 26 and 27 a total of 24 times this year compared to, say, LSU, for instance, which has done it just eight times. That means the Mountaineers have had to get 48 more outs to achieve their road record compared to LSU’s.
The Tigers’ impressive 45-15 overall record includes a 32-6 mark at Alex Box Stadium. At other venues, their record is a much more pedestrian 13-9.
Auburn, still alive in the NCAA Tournament, is only 13-12 away from Plainsman Park. Arkansas is 35-4 at home and 11-9 away from there.
Do you see a pattern forming here?
Among top 20 RPI teams, the two most successful on the road this year have been Coastal Carolina (18-7) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (19-9).
Not surprisingly, both have advanced to the Super Regionals. UTSA upset Texas in Austin and Coastal was rewarded for its regular-season success by defeating East Carolina at its home venue in the regional.
Now, the Chanticleers get to take their show on the road at Auburn.
As for West Virginia, it will likely be reserving a charter plane to Baton Rouge on Tuesday morning for games there this weekend, that is unless Little Rock does the unthinkable, which it already did once last night.
Stay tuned!
