CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — West Virginia’s Derek Clark had his sights set on his fifth complete game this season as he came back out to the mound to start the ninth inning of Friday night’s super regional series opener against North Carolina at Boshamer Stadium.
Tar Heels’ catcher Luke Stevenson had other ideas, and on Clark’s 134th pitch of the outing, the freshman blasted a game-tying home run to center field, just over the outstretched arm of a leaping Aaron Jamison, who fittingly had the ball hit his way immediately after entering as a defensive replacement to start that inning.
Stevenson admitted he initially thought Jamison had come up with what would’ve been a sensational catch to rob the Tar Heels of the tying run. Instead, it was more late game magic for UNC, which four batters later, scored an 8-6 victory on Vance Honeycutt’s two-run home run off Aidan Major to win in walk-off fashion for the third time over the last week.
“I was just trying to get something going to lead off the ninth. My goal was to get us started,” Stevenson said. “We’re never out of it and we always fight. I got a fastball and did what I could with it.”
Stevenson’s long ball wasn’t the end of the outing for Clark, who struck out Johnny Casangozzi for his eighth strikeout, before allowing an Alex Madera single.
At that point, the left-hander was pulled for Major, who recorded one out before surrendering Honeycutt’s homer.
Clark took the loss and his ERA jumped nearly a half run to 3.23, but the competitive nature West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey has so often praised throughout the 2024 season was on display and then some.
After allowing four third-inning runs that left the Mountaineers trailing by three, Clark bounced back with three straight scoreless frames, during which time West Virginia scored five runs to take a 6-4 lead.
“It’s playoff baseball for a reason. Nobody is going to go away at this point,” Clark said. “Doesn’t matter if you’re down ten or you’re down one. Playing a great team in North Carolina and their offense is one of the best in the country for a reason. Tried to stay even-keeled and work through the game as I can, take it one out at a time and one hitter at a time.”
Clark indicated there was a time he may not have been able to move beyond his third-inning struggles, where a one-out walk to No. 9 hitter Colby Wilkerson proved costly.
“I’m a senior and I’ve thrown a ton of innings the last four years,” said Clark, a transfer from Division II Northwood University. “If I was a freshman in that moment, it would not have been like that. I’ve come a long way emotion wise. You can never get too big or too small in the moment.”
While Friday was the eighth time this season Clark surpassed 100 pitches in his 13 starts, it was the first instance that Clark surpassed 127 pitches in an outing.
Mazey said he never considered taking Clark out prior to Stevenson’s home run.
“I don’t have any interest in fist-fighting Derek Clark on the mound. No thought of taking him out,” Mazey said. “Our only thought right now, is he going to pitch tomorrow? The guy is a warrior. You guys saw what we’ve been seeing this season. He’s a throwback to the Nolan Ryan days when guys were throwing 200 pitches. He can do that.
“Everybody gives coaches a hard time. I don’t even know how many pitches he threw. Good luck finding a guy to throw 100 strikes these days. I promise you he wants to pitch again. I promise you that. That’s just the kind of guy he is. When it comes to pitch count, you train guys differently. Some guys are trained to throw a lot of pitches and some guys aren’t. He’s a guy that can do that.”
Last week, Clark threw 101 pitches over a dominant complete game win against Dallas Baptist. Two nights later, he made his first relief appearance this season and recorded the final two outs of a regional-clinching 10-6 victory against Grand Canyon.
Whether or not Clark would be available Sunday afternoon if the Mountaineers can force a decisive third game in the series remains to be seen, but the 5-foot-9 southpaw has more than proved his worth this postseason over 18 innings against some of the more feared offenses in all of college baseball.
Honeycutt, one of the top hitters in the country with 25 home runs and a potential first-round pick in the upcoming Major League Baseball Draft, took notice.
“He’s really competitive, he can throw three pitches for strikes and he did that,” Honeycutt said. “He was trying to keep us off the fastball and did a pretty good job of it. We were able to scratch some across in the third, but he was very effective and hats off to him.”