BATON ROUGE, La. — Things went south for West Virginia in the middle innings of Saturday’s Super Regional series opener, with the Mountaineers allowing all 16 Tiger runs over the fourth, fifth and six frames.
As a result, WVU (44-15) is on the brink of elimination entering Game 2 in the best-of-three set at 6 p.m. (EST) Sunday.
Following his team’s 16-9 loss, first-year West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins did not announce a starting pitcher for Sunday’s matchup.
“We have to get together after today’s game, just because each game, the situation changes,” Sabins said. “We’ll get together as a staff and make some decisions.”
Perhaps that’s true. Perhaps Sabins was playing coy.
Yet all signs point to it being right-handed senior Jack Kartsonas. Kartsonas started the second game of last week’s Clemson Regional and was quite effective in a challenging road environment as he allowed two runs over 5.1 innings and had seven strikeouts against one walk.
A Kent State transfer, Kartsonas has allowed three or fewer runs in six of his eight starts this season and is 6-3 with a 2.94 ERA for the season.
In a must-win game, it’s all hands on deck for WVU, which is likely to rely on Reese Bassinger in a relief role at some point and also has a well-rested Chase Meyer and Carson Estridge to call upon.
“They could have beat us 40-0 and tomorrow it’s going to be 0-0 at first pitch,” said WVU’s Sam White, who finished 3-for-5 and scored three times Saturday. “It’s a series. Nothing to it. Like [Sabins] said in the postgame, we don’t have to crawl back like it’s a regional and win four more. We just have to go out and compete tomorrow and try to win one game.”
The challenge won’t get any easier for WVU against Tigers’ standout pitcher Anthony Eyanson. The right-hander is 10-2 with a 2.50 ERA and 135 strikeouts in 93.2 innings this season.
Despite falling short Saturday, the Mountaineers had an abundance of quality at bats against left-hander Kade Anderson, one of the top pitchers and pro prospects in all of college baseball.
WVU finished with 11 hits, including nine off Anderson over seven frames. White and freshman Gavin Kelly, who belted a two-run home run among his three hits, combined to comprise more than half of the Mountaineers’ hit total.
“He’s a really good pitcher and he throws something out of his hands that looks like a ball and it ends up a strike,” White said. “He throws a strike out of his hand and it ends up a ball. You trust your training and try to work naturally. Working a pitch count is one thing, but if you get something to hit, you’re not trying to foul it off. Swing at strikes and take the balls.”
Four of WVU’s runs came in the sixth inning, which it entered facing a 10-1 deficit. An additional two came on Kelly’s home run in the seventh to cut LSU’s lead to 16-7, while Kyle West clobbered a two-run home run in the ninth.
WVU has scored 35 runs in four postseason contests, including 31 in its last three.
“Every game, whether it’s good or bad, win or lose, there’s something you can take from it,” Sabins said. “From our perspective, it’s stepping foot against a very competitive team and a great pitcher and having success. Offense is built on confidence, so our offense should have confidence going into tomorrow.”
A heavy underdog entering the series, the Mountaineers are again one tomorrow, facing one of the sport’s top teams at perhaps its toughest environment.
On Saturday, most of the 12,093 in attendance were at their loudest after the Tigers generated 11 runs off three home runs — Derek Curiel’s three-run shot and grand slams from Steven Milam and Josh Pearson.
“It was probably the loudest stadium we’ve played in,” White said.
A victory Sunday would force a decisive third game Monday and settle whether the Mountaineers make their first trip to the College World Series or the Tigers make their 20th.
“This is a series. If you lose Game 1 of a regional, you have to win four games and it’s a very different scenario,” Sabins said. “This is more traditional baseball and what we’ve been doing all year. You have to go win a series. If you can get to a Ggame 3, everything changes. It’s all about tomorrow, playing for the season and playing for your teammates and then you get to Game 3, that’s when things can get really fun.”