Luke Lawrence could barely walk but willed himself into lineup before delivering two massive run-scoring hits that included the game-winner. Braxton Van Cleave, wearing a mask and a softball-style batting helmet with a face cage guard on it, pummeled a 417-foot home run. Hudson Brown, who is still trying to fully return from mononucleosis, hammered a back-breaking two-run single. And Jack Bennett gutted through a career-high 60 pitches and 4.0 innings to earn the victory and close out the win for his home state school.
It was everything that has come to define Kentucky baseball under coach Nick Mingione.
UK raced out to a 6-0 lead through two innings, saw the lead disappear, regained it on a two-run Owen Jenkins single, watched it get tied again and then deliver a three-run knockout blow in the eighth. Still, West Virginia brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth before Bennett slammed the door.
UK will face the winner of West Virginia/Wake Forest at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday.