WVU, Kentucky meet again in regional showdown
West Virginia and Kentucky have seemingly become postseason rivals. With the upcoming contest on Saturday, the programs will meet in a regional for the fourth time in as many years. Both teams have experienced similar success, and their DNA is very similar.
Rivalry Formed Through Success
Looking at the past, the Mountaineers and Wildcats first met in Kentucky’s home regional in 2023. WVU suffered a 10-0 loss, eliminating it from the NCAA Tournament. Last season, they met again at Clemson. In game one, WVU took a 4-3 victory, then defeated the Wildcats 13-12 in the regional final.
While both programs have yet to admit it, there surely are hard feelings between the two. From chippiness in the dugouts to ending each other’s season, I am confident in saying that the boarding schools’ programs want to kick the crap out of each other.
Despite the narrative of a rivalry, Kentucky’s manager Nick Mingione has the utmost respect for the Mountaineers.
“They’re a really good team. What I know is you don’t get to host a regional without being a balanced, well-coached team, and that’s what West Virginia is,” Mingione said.
Playing When It Doesn’t Count
WVU and Kentucky have both made four consecutive regional appearances. And with their meetings, they understand how good each other is. With that, they presumably wanted to ensure their rosters were in the best shape possible ahead of this season, leading to a fall scrimmage.
While the box score is hard to find, Adam Luckett of KSR told a telling tale. In the first half of a 14-inning scrimmage, WVU jumped out to an early 8-1 lead. Then, Kentucky scored eight unanswered runs for a first-half win.
With no more scores from Luckett, Kentucky, its final score on X.
No matter what happened that day, Mingione knew the talent the Mountaineers had before this season.
“You could see in the fall how talented they were, and I’m looking forward to watching them play,” he said.
In regard to the scrimmage, WVU manager Steve Sabins did not care for a win or loss. He just wanted to evaluate his team.
“At that point, you’re just hyper-focused on your team, so you don’t even care what Kentucky is doing; you want to see your kids compete against good competition,” Sabins said.
Now It Counts
Now, WVU and Kentucky meet with the stakes at an all-time high, with the winner advancing to the Morgantown Regional Final on Sunday. Even though Kentucky played before WVU on Friday, the Mountaineer staff was too locked in on their game against Binghamton to fully scout.
With that, WVU implemented an analytics team to take in-depth looks at opponents. From Friday night and through the day on Saturday, WVU is totally locked in on Kentucky.
“We have an analytics team that has basically created scouting reports for these teams. Now the coaches have to really dive into those to decipher what that means,” Sabins said.
Similar Makeup
Even without a full scout, Sabins knows what Kentucky is about because the Wildcats and Mountaineers play very similar games.
“In general, Kentucky is an ultra-aggressive, base-stealing, look for the extra base kind of team. Similar to us, but probably even more aggressive on the base paths. They have a quality team, always featuring a ton of talent and high-end players,” Sabins said.
Sabins failed to mention the Wildcats’ gritty mentality in the box. With a team batting average of .285, it gets runners on base. This leads to them stealing 122 bases, No. 30 in the nation. Also adding 56 home runs, 12 more than the Mountaineers.
Mingione indicated his ballclub’s diverse offensive ability is not random; it was calculated.
“We have structured our recruiting efforts to identify speed and power. It’s two things that are really hard to find, and we have set up and tailored our roster to be able to do just that,” Mingione said.
Beating Wake Forest
The speed, power and average were all on display in Kentucky’s 6-5 win against Wake Forest on Friday. Freshman Braxton Van Cleave came up with the biggest hit of his career, with a two RBI double in the sixth inning, tying the game.
“The ability to put a ball in play, our team does a great job of that, and that helped us out a lot today,” Van Cleave said.
Kentucky scored two more runs that inning for the lead, but Wake Forest tied the game back up in the eighth inning. The winning run came from Jayce Tharnish advancing home on a wild pitch, the second of the game for a Wildcat run.
Tarnish got with a single in between two outs. He stole second and third base before crossing the plate. He credited a gritty battle from Tyler Cerny and his coaches for his advancement.
“First, it was Cerny’s two-strike fight; he was the reason I was able to get on second. Then, Coach Sloan fired bullets. He saw that the third baseman was back and gave me a delayed steal, and I just trusted that call, and it worked,” Tharnish said.
Sabins Plans To Stop Kentucky
To combat this intense Wildcat offense, WVU will send southpaw Maxx Yehl to the mound. As the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, you should always feel confident in your chances. But Sabins is even more assured in Yehl for a strategic reason.
“Many coaches wait to announce who they will start. We legitimately try to just focus on our team, like focus on our team, put our team in the best situation,” Sabins said. “Being left-handed sure helps against a team that runs a lot, right, because to steal a base against a left-handed pitcher.”
“You have to go on the first movement, you can’t wait to see him to the plate, you’d get thrown out every time. essentially you’re guessing he won’t pick up so you can run. And if you run against a lefty, you’re more likely to be safe if he doesn’t pick, but if he picks, you’re out,” he continued.
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