For a second straight night, Kentucky and West Virginia played an instant classic. But it was the Mountaineers who once again came out with the victory, walking off Kentucky 6-5 in extra innings.
West Virginia first baseman Armani Guzman, last year's hero against the Cats in the Clemson Regional, delivered a one-out single into center field in the bottom of the 10th to score the winning run and send the Mountaineers to the Super Regional.
Kentucky finishes the season 33-23. The program has reached four straight NCAA Regional finals, but the Wildcats have been eliminated by West Virginia in two straight seasons.
Kentucky did not go down quietly.
Trailing 5-1 with two outs in the top of the eighth, Tyler Bell and Luke Lawrence worked back-to-back singles to bring Hudson Brown to the plate. Brown, whose solo homer was the only run for Kentucky up to that point, launched a 440-foot homer on the first pitch he saw to cut the lead to one. Ethan Hindle followed Brown with a solo shot to tie the game at 5-5.
The Wildcats had a chance to tack on a run in the top of the ninth. Carson Hansen worked a leadoff walk and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Owen Jenkins. But Jayce Tharnish struck out for the second out and Bell hit a bouncer back to the pitcher for the third out.
Kentucky native Jack Bennett sat West Virginia down in order to go to the 10th inning. Brown and Hindle drew one-out walks but were left stranded after Braxton Van Cleave struck out and Tyler Cerny, in the starting lineup for the first time in several weeks, lined out to the left fielder.
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West Virginia put two runners on in the bottom of the frame and won on Guzman's base hit to center field.
Self-inflicted mistakes haunted Kentucky early. With two outs and a runner on third base in the first inning, Kentucky starter Jackson Soucie got Sean Smith to swing and miss on a curveball for strike three, but Jenkins missed the ball, leading to the first run of the game.
Following a bunt single by Guzman to lead off the third inning, Soucie picked off to first base as Guzman was stealing. Brown's throw to Bell was in time, but the star shortstop didn't get the tag on Guzman until his hand was on the bag. Guzman came around to score after two groundouts, making it 2-0.
Soucie, to his credit, threw well in the only start of his Kentucky career. He struck out five batters and held WVU to three hits and one earned run over three innings on 68 pitches. He turned it over to ace Jaxon Jelkin, who threw 98 pitches in Friday's win over Wake Forest, in the fourth inning of a 2-1 game.
Jelkin was excellent in his first inning, striking out two and getting a groundout to third. But the Mountaineers collected five hits, three that went for extra bases, and scored three earned runs off Jelkin over the next two innings. Gavin Kelly's solo homer to left field made it 5-1 in the fifth inning.
West Virginia, as it did on Saturday against Kentucky, went with Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Maxx Yehl. Yehl was replaced in the first inning after giving up four runs in the 11-9 loss. However, the short outing allowed Yehl to return for the regional final.
The left-hander allowed a solo home run to Brown in the fourth inning, but he otherwise kept the Wildcats' offense in check. Yehl struck out six Wildcats over five innings and held them to three hits and one earned run.
Kentucky's best chance against Yehl came in the first inning. A double steal in the first inning with two outs put runners on second and third, but Ethan Hindle struck out to end the threat. Hindle came up again in the same situation in the sixth inning in a 4-1 game, this time against reliever Ian Korn, but grounded out to first base on a check swing to leave two more in scoring position.
But in the eighth, Hindle had his moment. Following Brown's second homer of the game, Hindle battled to a 2-2 count and then launched a solo homer to tie the game. It wasn't enough in the end.
Kentucky heads to the offseason looking to build off four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, but there will be a healthy amount of turnover. Kentucky is set to lose its starting middle infield, potentially its ace in the starting rotation and several of the top bullpen arms who were used throughout the season and came up big in the regional will be gone, along with a few other starters who are draft-eligible.
