Speed is a key component of West Virginia’s identity.
In Friday’s Big 12 Conference Tournament semifinal against Arizona State, it was a pivotal piece to the success of the Mountaineers as No. 2 seed West Virginia forced the issue and scored six unanswered runs to erase a deficit in a 7-3 win over the Sun Devils at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Ariz.
The result advances the Mountaineers (39-13) into Saturday’s Big 12 title game at 7:30 p.m. (EST) against top seed Kansas. It will air on ESPN2.
Ranked ninth nationally, WVU (39-13) trailed 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth before three straight singles from Sean Smith, Matthew Graveline and Armani Guzman, the latter of which scored Smith from second.
Guzman and Graveline moved to second and third, respectively on a wild pitch, before Brodie Kresser reached on a throwing error that allowed both to score and the Mountaineers to go in front for good.
Reese Bassinger, who had come on in the sixth as the fourth WVU pitcher to work against ASU, threw a scoreless seventh and exited in the eighth with a runner at first and one out.
Left-hander Ben McDougal came on to face left-handed hitting Dean Toigo and did his job admirably by inducing a routine fly ball to center, but it was dropped by Paul Schoenfeld.
At that point, Dawson Montesa, who had started in 13 of his 14 appearances this season, spelled McDougal and retired the first two batters he faced, including a strikeout of Austen Roellig to end the top of the eighth.
Guzman’s one-out walk in the bottom of that inning sparked what amounted to a three-run frame and was followed by a single to center from Kresser, with Guzman using his blazing speed and aggressive style to score after helping to force a throwing error from centerfielder Landon Harrison.
Got the insurance run ✔️
B8 | Sun Devils 3, Mountaineers 5 pic.twitter.com/iwDMhVcb51
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 23, 2026
Directly after the No. 3 seed Sun Devils (37-19) replaced pitcher Colin Linder with Derek Schaefer, Tyrus Hall accounted for a run-scoring single, and Hall accounted for the game’s final run after stealing second and scoring on a throwing error from the Sun Devils’ Brody Briggs.
Safe on the field, safe after review 🙌
B8 | Sun Devils 3, Mountaineers 7 pic.twitter.com/Ygn5gKUvjl
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 23, 2026
Montesa allowed the first two batters to reach in the ninth before retiring three straight, including Hairston, the Big 12 Player of the Year, on a fly ball to the right field warning track.
Kresser’s two-out single in the second scored Sean Smith after he’d led off with a double.
WVU starter Chansen Cole breezed through the Sun Devils’ order his first time through, but in the fourth, a leadoff triple from Nuu Contrades was directly followed by Dean Toigo’s 457-foot two-run home run.
WVU hit into a double play and stranded the bases loaded in the fourth, and its deficit grew to two in the sixth when Contrades scored from second base on a wild pitch thrown by Carson Estridge.
The Mountaineers had 11 hits, including three from Smith to match the ASU total.
Cole worked five effective innings, allowing two runs on two hits with six strikeouts and no base-on-balls.
Bassinger and Montesa recorded five outs apiece, with the former improving to 4-2 while the latter earned his first save.
ASU starting pitcher Cole Carlon allowed one run on five hits over 5.1 innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Finn Edwards came on for Carlon and was charged with the loss after allowing three runs on three hits without recording an out over 18 pitches.
Arizona State struck out nine times and one fewer than WVU, but was 3-for-31 as a team.