GRANVILLE, W.Va. — Steve Sabins admits his mind began to wander in the late innings of Game 6 in the NCAA Tournament Morgantown Regional. Without holding a lead past the fourth inning against Kentucky in a must-win game to extend their season, his Mountaineers needed a rally reminiscent of their championship game in the Clemson Regional last year against UK.
Two outs away from elimination, WVU pushed five runs across the plate in the top of the ninth to defeat the Wildcats, 11-9, forcing a winner-take-all rematch Monday at 6 p.m.
“Throughout that game, you are kind of having some thoughts about kids and you are having emotions about what they are doing and how they are competing,” Sabins said. “You are playing to win the game but you are also playing for young guys to be able to take on adversity, keep moving forward and turn the scoreboard off. That’s really the most fulfilling thing in this.
“Watching guys sing ‘Country Roads’ at night after being at the ball field for probably twelve hours, was just epic. I don’t think there’s any other way to put it. It was one of the funnest days I have been a part of in a long time.”
West Virginia doubled up Wake Forest, 10-5 earlier on Sunday to keep their season alive.
West Virginia defeated UK, 13-12 in last year’s regional final, scoring six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win.
Playing their fifth NCAA Tournament game against each other in the last four years, Kentucky took a 9-6 lead into the top of the ninth inning. However, the Mountaineers sparked a stirring rally to extend their season.
Brodie Kresser, Ben Lumsden, Tyrus Hall and Armani Guzman reached base to leadoff the inning, reaching on an error, a walk, a single and a walk, respectively. WVU pulled within two runs at 9-7. Gavin Kelly’s sacrifice fly to score Lumsden represented the first out of the inning, but it also pulled West Virginia within a run at 9-8. In the next at bat, Kansas pitcher Oliver Boone balked, allowing Hall to score the game-tying run.
And then Paul Schoenfeld sent West Virginia fans in the crowd of 4,184 into raucous celebrations. His 343-foot two-run home run to right field gave West Virginia a lead they would not relinquish.
IT’S OUTTA HERE!!!!!!! PAUL SCHOENFELD!!!!
T9 | Mountaineers 11, Wildcats 9 pic.twitter.com/Rie032MLvA
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) June 1, 2026
“First pitch heater. On the second pitch, Sabins put green on the watch and I was like, I am going to get my hack off here,” Schoenfeld said. “I got it off the end of the bat. I think I hit it 92 miles an hour. But the ball was going that way.”
Playing with the lead for the first time in the game, Bridgeport High School graduate Ben McDougal returned to the mound for his fifth inning of relief. He allowed a two-out single but he retired Jayce Tharnish as the game’s potential tying run.
Beset by injury for most of the season, McDougal had pitched just 6.1 innings this season entering Sunday’s contest.
“I came back from injury and has just kind of been a process,” McDougal said. “I stuck to the same process I had all the time last year that I found success with and I just kept working back. The opportunity presented itself today.
“I didn’t think it was going to be my last college baseball game. I figured we were going to win the whole time.”
Kentucky built a pair of three-run leads including a 6-3 advantage in the third inning. The Mountaineers were shutout over the next five innings by the Wildcat bullpen.
Two days after posting three scoreless and hitless innings of relief in WVU’s 10-1 regional-opening win over Binghamton, David Hagen took the hill as a starter for the first time since May 5 against Marshall. Hagen allowed three runs (one earned) in two innings of work.
West Virginia scored a pair of runs in the first inning without the benefit of a base hit. UK starter Ben Cleaver hit two batters, walked three and allowed a sacrifice fly off the bat of Matthew Graveline. He was pulled after facing just six batters.
BK with the first hit of the game to bring in another run!
T1 | Mountaineers 3, Wildcats 0 pic.twitter.com/gVCMaXb9Fh
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 31, 2026
Ira Austin entered the game bullpen and allowed an RBI single from Kresser before recording the final two outs in the inning.
Kentucky pulled two runs back in their half of the first inning while only managing one hit. Both teams stranded the bases loaded in the first. The Wildcats drew even at 3 in the second inning with a run-scoring infield single from Luke Lawrence.
West Virginia pulled back in front with a three-run third inning. Kresser, Hall and Guzman drove in runs in successive at bats, giving the Mountaineers a 6-3 advantage.
That lead would be short-lived. UK scored a run in the third to make their deficit 6-4. In the fourth, a Tyler Bell solo homer brought the Wildcats within one and back-to-back run-scoring singles from Ethan Hindle and Braxton Van Cleave gave Kentucky their first lead at 7-6.
👋@BellTyler28 left ZERO doubt.
B4 | 6-5, WVU pic.twitter.com/9X01UuNy7d
— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) May 31, 2026
Following Hagen, a trio of WVU relievers had varying levels of success. Josh Surigao allowed one run in 0.1 innings of work. Carson Estridge was charged with three runs in 1.2 innings. Trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth, Kentucky’s first two batters reached. Bridgeport native Ben McDougal entered the game and retired the next three batters to keep the Mountaineers within a run.
McDougal retired the first eight batters he faced before allowing back-to-back solo home runs to Jayce Tharnish and Tyler Bell in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving UK an 9-6 lead. McDougal allowed two runs in five innings of work while striking out six batters.
McDougal comes out of the pen and retires three straight!
E5 | Mountaineers 6, Wildcats 7 pic.twitter.com/QizhFpAJ1W
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 31, 2026
West Virginia left 12 runners on base. Kentucky pitchers issued 12 free passes to West Virginia with ten walks and a pair of hit batsmen.
Tharnish and Braxton VanCleve each had three hits to lead the Wildcats (33-22). Guzman, Schoenfeld and Kresser each had two hits for the Mountaineers. Eight of nine Mountaineers in the starting lineup drove in at least one run.
WVU now owns a 3-2 edge in their last five NCAA Tournament meetings with Kentucky. The Mountaineers won a pair of one-run contests against the Wildcats last season to win the Clemson Regional.
West Virginia will play their fifth game Monday in the four-day tournament.
“The kids have been on their feet so much. The physical side is real,” Sabins said. “Playing five games in four days, we haven’t done that the entire season. 58 games in, this sport is super-taxing.”
Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione on bouncing back after squandering a three-run ninth-inning lead in an 11-9 loss to WVU: pic.twitter.com/YJqGkI20lQ
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) June 1, 2026
No. 1 national seed UCLA was eliminated in the third game of their regional by St. Marys, 6-5 in 10 innings. The winner of Monday’s game awaits the winner of the Los Angeles Regional, Cal Poly, in the Super Regional round next weekend. If WVU wins Monday’s meeting, they will host the best-of-three series by virtue of holding the No. 16 national seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“Awesome. We need more motivation to win tomorrow,” Sabins deadpanned. “At a certain point, there’s no more, you don’t need more. You probably need less. Let’s go turn a couple double plays and throw some strikes. That’s what we are all into.”
Steve Sabins on WVU’s 11-9 win over Kentucky that featured a five-run rally in the ninth inning to extend their season: pic.twitter.com/mq4qeQnY9C
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) June 1, 2026