West Virginia University
42-15
Kentucky
33-22
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 3 |
| Kentucky | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 13 | 1 |
Mountaineers Rally to Defeat Kentucky and Force Game Seven
June 01, 2026 12:04 AM | Baseball
The Mountaineers improve to 42-15 while the Wildcats fall to 33-22. It will be the first time West Virginia will play in a game seven since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1999.
Senior Paul Schoenfeld hit the go-ahead home run in the ninth inning, his fourth of the season and first at Kendrick Family Ballpark. That came after the Mountaineers had already scored three runs in the inning to tie the game.
The ninth started with a fielding error by the Kentucky third baseman before senior Ben Lumsden walked and junior Tyrus Hall singled to load the bases. A walk to junior Armani Guzman and a sacrifice fly by sophomore Gavin Kelly brought the Mountaineers within a run and put runners on the corners. Wildcat pitcher Oliver Boone then tried picking off Guzman but balked in the process to bring home the tying run. Schoenfeld followed by hitting a 1-0 pitch to right field that snuck over the wall to put WVU in front.
In the game, Guzman had two hits, two RBI, and two runs scored while graduate student Brodie Kresser had two hits, two runs and an RBI. Schoenfeld reached base four times and finished with two RBI and two runs.
Senior Ben McDougal was the story on the mound as he threw the last 5.0 innings of the game, striking out six while giving up just two runs on three hits with the Mountaineers thin on pitching, playing their fourth game in three days.
The Mountaineers got off to a quick start with three runs in the first. Graduate Sean Smith was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to open the scoring before a sacrifice fly by senior Matthew Graveline. A base hit from Kresser capped the three-run inning.
Kentucky answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning and a run in the second to even up the game, but WVU responded with three runs in the third to take the lead back. Lumsden had an RBI single to break the tie before Hall had a run-scoring groundout. Guzman then followed with a two-out RBI single.
The Wildcats scored a run in the third and then four in the fourth to take the lead. In the seventh, they hit back-to-back home runs to extend their lead, but that was the only damage McDougal surrendered on the night, allowing the Mountaineers to rally in the ninth.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McDougal, Ben (1-0)
L: Soucie, Jackson (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Schoenfeld, Paul 1
HR: Schoenfeld, Paul 1
RBI: Graveline, Matthew 1 ; Kelly, Gavin 1 ; Guzman, Armani 2 ; Schoenfeld, Paul 2 ; Hall, Tyrus 1 ; Smith, Sean 1 ; Kresser, Brodie 1 ; Lumsden, Ben 1
SH: Graveline, Matthew 1
SF: Graveline, Matthew 1 ; Kelly, Gavin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Graveline, Matthew 1 ; Kelly, Gavin 1 ; Guzman, Armani 2 ; Schoenfeld, Paul 2 ; Hall, Tyrus 1 ; Kresser, Brodie 2 ; Lumsden, Ben 2
SB: Guzman, Armani 2
HBP: Guzman, Armani 1 ; Smith, Sean 1
Batting:
2B: Lawrence, Luke 1 ; Tharnish, Jayce 1
HR: Bell, Tyler 2 ; Tharnish, Jayce 1
RBI: Bell, Tyler 2 ; Hansen, Carson 1 ; Hindle, Ethan 2 ; Lawrence, Luke 1 ; Tharnish, Jayce 1 ; Van Cleave, Braxton 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Bell, Tyler 3 ; Hindle, Ethan 2 ; Lawrence, Luke 1 ; Tharnish, Jayce 3
SB: Hindle, Ethan 1 ; Jenkins, Owen 1
HBP: Jenkins, Owen 1 ; Tharnish, Jayce 1
