MORGANTOWN, W.V. – With nobody out in the sixth inning, Luke Lawrence lay face down in the left-handed batter's box at Kendrick Family Ballpark. Lawrence fouled a ball off his knee on an attempted bunt, leaving him in "the most pain I've ever seen Luke in," according to head coach Nick Mingione.
Lawrence shook it off after a few minutes, remained in the game and ended up scoring the game-tying run in a four-run sixth inning. The senior second baseman displayed physical toughness to stay in the game at that point – he was later replaced by senior infielder Tyler Cerny – but it was just one example of the resolve Kentucky showed in its 6-5 win over Wake Forest on Friday.
The mental fortitude showed up throughout the sixth inning. Trailing 3-1 and with the bases loaded and one out, freshman outfielder Braxton Van Cleave fell behind in an 0-2 count to Wake Forest left-hander Rhys Bowie.
"I knew they were attacking me a lot with heaters, especially early in at-bats," Van Cleave said. "(Bowie) threw me two in a row and he beat me with them. He was kind of fueling me on the mound. He was getting all excited, so I was like 'alright, bring it on.' Then he threw me another one."
The last fastball was flicked just over third baseman Dalton Wentz and into left field to tie the game at 3-3. It was a massive swing for a player who thought his season was over just a few weekends ago. A scary collision with Arkansas shortstop Camden Kozeal led to Van Cleave needing facial surgery. Van Cleave said that doctors originally told him he'd be out six to eight weeks, ending his freshman season prematurely. But after surgery, Van Cleave found out he'd have a chance to play again.
"It was just getting through concussion protocol," Van Cleave said. "That was the part that we were worried about. As long as I could get through that fine and get cleared, I knew I was going to have a chance to play. That's what happened."
Following a wild pitch that scored first baseman Hudson Brown and moved Van Cleave to third base, left fielder Carson Hansen also battled to run the count full before hitting a sac fly to center field to make it 5-3.
Solo homers for Wake Forest in the sixth and eighth innings tied the game at 5-5. But it was in the seventh inning that more grit was shown. Center fielder Jayce Tharnish crashed into the wall in right-center field to record the third out and end the frame. Tharnish later singled with one out in the ninth inning and stole second and third with two outs. Cerny battled against Wake Forest Will Ray, staying alive long enough for Ray to throw a wild pitch that allowed Tharnish to trot home for the game-winning run.
"It was Cerny's (two-strike) fight," Tharnish said. "He was the reason I was able to get on second. Coach (Chase) Slone was firing bullets. He saw that the third baseman was back and gave me a delayed steal. I trusted that call and it worked."
In fact, Wake Forest didn't bother to throw down to third base at all. Demon Deacons head coach Tom Walter said he liked the fact that Cerny had two strikes on him and that it was a good matchup for Ray, so he saw no problem in not risking a throw that could end up in left field. But Ray's pitch went to the backstop and put Wake Forest in a late hole.
Kentucky turned to senior left-hander Jackson Soucie for the save. He retired the side in order to move the Wildcats into the winner's bracket, where they'll await the winner of Friday night's game between host West Virginia and America East champion Binghamton.
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"I challenged the team before the game to have the right mentality," Mingione said. "I talked to them about toughness. The way we define toughness is your ability to consistently perform at the upper ranges of your talent and skill, regardless of competitive circumstances. That's toughness. I challenged them to have real toughness and to force their will on their opponent and the game today, to do whatever it takes to win. To our guys' credit, they showed toughness."
It would have been easy, Mingione said, to say it wasn't Kentucky's day. Matt Conte launched a homer off the scoreboard in left center field in the fourth inning to make it 3-0 in the early going while Wake Forest standout right-hander Chris Levonas held the Kentucky offense scoreless. But the offense chipped away, managing to work deep counts against Levonas and get him out of the game after five innings. Freshman third baseman Caeden Cloud's two-out RBI double brought home the first run in the fifth inning. Levonas was done after he got out of the frame. He only allowed one earned run, two hits and gave up two free passes, but his pitch count was at 96.
"His ability to pitch and land multiple pitches in the zone, amazing," Mingione said of Levonas. "His poise is pretty special. That guy is going to play baseball for a long time. I felt like he emptied the tank and did everything he possibly could to help his team."
Mingione credited his team's ability to grind out at-bats. He said 27 straight batters went to the plate and saw at least three pitches. Kentucky's 10th-year head coach believes the definition of a good offense is having the ability to score even when the team isn't hitting well. The Wildcats were held to five hits in the game compared to Wake Forest's 10, but UK ultimately came out with the win.
"We have a good offense," Mingione said. "We were able to score runs when we weren't really hitting. Levonas was going to make it hard on us, and same with Bowie. He was awesome... our guys just did exactly what it took to win. Give them a lot of credit. We just kept fighting."
