By Justin Jackson
For The Inter-Mountain
Granville – The party began in the second inning Saturday, just seconds after Ben Lumsden sent a 362-foot defining statement into the visitor’s bullpen for a three-run home run.
It was a celebration that stretched well beyond the confines of Kendrick Family Ballpark and well beyond the possibly 3,000 others hugging and clapping up on the hill behind the stadium.
It hit all the borders of West Virginia as hard as a Gavin Kelly barreled-up double to the gap and was as sweet as an Armani Guzman stolen base.
The College World Series has been around since 1947. For the first time ever, there will be a contingent of old gold and blue-clad Mountaineers in Omaha, Neb. playing for a national championship, courtesy of WVU’s 17-1 victory over Cal Poly to capture the program’s first super regional championship.
“The Mountaineers are going to Omaha,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “It’s been 135 years in the making, so it’s pretty special being a part of something that’s never been done in our history.”
An official crowd of 4,675 – the largest for a baseball game in school history – witnessed the historic action from within the ballpark. It included two long balls and five RBIs from Lumsden, and then his teammates suddenly turned into a modern Murderer’s Row and sent three more flying out of the yard, each one juicing up the crowd into even more of a frenzy.
And while it was a historical day for the program, Guzman carved out his own piece of it, too. In the second inning, in the midst of the Mountaineers (45-15) putting up seven runs to essentially seal the Mustangs’ fate, Guzman’s swipe of second base gave him 38 on the season, tying Victor Scott’s single-season school record.
For the added sake of drama, Guzman added his first home run of the season, a 346-foot blast to right field. That got his mother, Clara Torres, going behind the WVU dugout, and she quickly kept the celebration going.
“She kind of embarrasses me,” Guzman joked. “I try not to pay attention to her, but I heard the crowd and all of that. I’m just happy that she’s happy.”
All of it led to a historical wild ride that was only subdued by a 97-minute weather delay in the eighth inning that saw heavy winds and rain send chairs and canopies flying down the hill outside of the stadium. An oversized canopy – also located on top of the hill – used by WVU to entertain its top donors prior to the game, was also blown off its foundation and sent partially down the hill.
None of it kept WVU from sweeping Cal Poly (39-24), which was making its first-ever trip to the super regionals, and completing, quite possibly, one of the most dominating postseason performances in school history.
The Mountaineers scored 29 runs in the two victories over the Mustangs. The five home runs on Saturday were the most in one game under Sabins. That’s added on to the 46 runs they scored in five games of the Morgantown Regional last week.
“We just ran into a real good ball club,” Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee said. “They’re multi-faceted and it wasn’t a good matchup for us. They’re good and they do a lot of things very well. We just weren’t able to hang with them. Hopefully, they can be successful in Omaha, and I think they will be.”
Up next in the College World Series is an opening game against Troy, which finished off Little Rock (Ark.) with a 7-2 victory on Saturday. The dates and times for the opening game won’t be announced until Monday.
It will be another huge leap forward for Sabins and his group of guys, who set a program record with their 45th victory of the season and just continue to take the program forward.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Guzman said.
“For Guz, and (Brodie Kresser) and I, this is year three trying at it,” added Lumsden. “It feels really good.”
WVU scored its 17 runs on a season-high 19 hits, with eight of those going for extra bases. Maxx Yehl (9-2) earned the win after going five innings, allowing four hits and just one run. WVU reliever Ben McDougal pitched the final outs in the ninth, striking out Gavin Spiridonoff to end the game, which began a wild celebration at the pitcher’s mound and beyond.
“I’m kind of at a loss of words,” Kresser said. “We’re so excited and we’re excited to get to Omaha. We know we can win that thing. We’re just trying to take it all in right now. This group is special.”
Read more from The Inter-Mountain, here.
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