West Virginia ends Cats' season with extra-inning win in regional final

The one thing Kentucky could never master ultimately ended its season.

The Wildcats dropped to 0-8 in rubber-match games on Monday, losing 6-5 to West Virginia in a nail-biting, extra-inning championship game of the Morgantown Regional.

Third-seeded Kentucky, which was three outs away from advancing to the super regionals on Sunday night before squandering a 9-6 lead, saw its season end at 33-23 but fought until the bitter end.

“Proud of my team,” UK head coach Nick Mingione said. “Anyone that knows me knows that I want to teach them not just baseball — which they’re great at — I do want to teach them about life, and the life lessons that this team has learned about never quitting, never being out of the fight, just to continue to go. I thought the comeback we made just showed their true character and heart, and I’m really proud of these guys.

“Obviously, wish it didn’t end this way, but the way they’ve represented Kentucky, I’m very proud of them.”

The top-seeded Mountaineers (43-15) will play host to Cal Poly in the super regional next week at raucous Kendrick Family Ballpark after No. 1 overall seed UCLA was upset in the Los Angeles Regional.

To get there, West Virginia had to crawl out of the dreaded elimination bracket and win three games in less than 48 hours, holding off a furious rally from UK in the championship game.

Trailing 5-1 in the eighth, Kentucky got back-to-back home runs from Hudson Brown and Ethan Hidle to tie the game and stun the WVU faithful.

But the Cats stranded the potential winning run at second in the top of the ninth and two more baserunners in the 10th. Montesa Dawson (4-4), who threw 120 pitches on Sunday against Wake Forest to keep the Mountaineers’ season alive, got two gutsy outs in the 10th to earn the win.

That set the stage for West Virginia to win the latest “bar fight” with Kentucky. Four straight postseason meetings between the border rivals have come down to the final inning.

Brodie Kresser led off the bottom of the 10th with a single off UK’s Jack Bennett, and Ben Lumsden followed with a walk to push the winning run into scoring position.

Armani Guzman’s third hit of the night — a sinking line drive to centerfield landing just in front of UK’s Jayce Tharnish, the same type of hit he delivered to beat the Cats last year in the Clemson Regional final — produced a wild, walk-off celebration for West Virginia.

“That was fun. Couldn’t draw it up any better,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “I think everything that you love about coaching and everything that you love about the players was on full display this weekend. It was cinema. It had literally everything that you could imagine.”

The Mountaineers got five strong innings from their ace, Maxx Yehl, who returned to the mound after being knocked out in the first inning of the Wildcats’ win on Saturday. The Big 12 Pitcher of the Year allowed only one run on three hits and no walks while striking out six.

Like it did Sunday, Kentucky also did its part to aid the Mountaineer victory.

The Wildcats gave away two runs early in the game, one on a strikeout with a passed ball and another on a failed pickoff play, and had to play from behind all night long.

They also left runners stranded at second and third on two occasions in the first six innings and had a runner picked off.

West Virginia was led by the top three men in the batting order, Guzman, Gavin Kelly, and Paul Schoenfeld. Guzman had three hits, while Kelly and Schoenfeld each added two. They combined for four RBI and five runs scored. Kelly hit his third home run of the Morgantown Regional, earning MVP honors.

Guzman has been a nightmare for UK pitching during the last two years of regional tourney play, recording 14 hits in five postseason games against the Cats.

Kentucky got a pair of home runs from Brown, a solo shot and a three-run blast. Luke Lawrence also had two hits for the Cats.

Bennett (2-4) took the loss despite 2.1 innings of strong relief work, giving pitching-depleted UK a chance to win the game in the ninth and tenth innings.

Mingione said he believes the Cats earned respect during their regional run after being heavily scrutinized for receiving one of the final NCAA bids.

“Someone brought to my attention that this is four years in a row we’ve been in a regional final, and we’re the only SEC team to do that,” he said. “Out of all 16 teams in the league, there’s only one that can say that they’ve been to four straight regional finals, and that’s saying a lot because we play in the greatest league in America. I think with that, yes, there comes respect.”

Up Next:

Kentucky enters the offseason looking to rebuild its roster for 2027. The Wildcats have some key lineup pieces who could return, including junior outfielder Jayce Tharnish, junior infielder Ethan Hindle, sophomore first baseman Hudson Brown, freshman outfielder Braxton Van Cleave, freshman third baseman Caeden Cloud, and freshman catcher Owen Jenkins.

The UK pitching staff will be a bigger mystery. Weekend starters Jaxon Jelkin, Ben Cleaver, and Nate Harris could all return, although the ace of the staff, Jelkin, will likely be selected in this summer’s MLB Draft. His draft slot may be the determining factor. Freshman Jack Sams appears to be a player on the rise after a terrific first season in the program. The bullpen is expected to be a major focus after a tumultuous 2026 campaign.

PerfectGame.com currently ranks Kentucky’s 12-player recruiting class No. 18 nationally.

FINAL UK BOX: pic.twitter.com/vBKF59NoQR

— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) June 2, 2026