By Greg Carey
GRANVILLE, W.Va. — West Virginia baseball has spent the last few years breaking barriers while qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in four straight seasons.
The latest accomplishment trumps anything before it in program history.
For the second straight day, the Mountaineers put together a complete and flawless performance, rolling to a 17-1 victory Saturday against Cal Poly and securing a Super Regional series sweep for a spot in the College World Series.
“This is why I came here 11 years ago to be able to have an opportunity to be the best in the world at something,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said.
With the latest result, which came before a Kendrick Family Ballpark record crowd of 4,675, WVU (45-15) set a new single season program record for wins. It marks the Mountaineers’ fifth straight victory going back to Sunday when they knocked off Wake Forest to avoid elimination.
“The reason we’re in the position that we’re in is because the kids love each other, they love baseball, they like being on the field and getting better,” Sabins said.
Serving as the away team on its home field, West Virginia did not score in the first inning and faced its only deficit in two games against the Mustangs when Cal Poly got two singles and a Ryan Tayman sacrifice fly in the home half of that inning.
The deficit was short-lived as WVU scored seven runs in the second to take control.
The inning began with Matthew Graveline’s ground-rule double to right field that was fair by inches, and that was the first of seven straight Mountaineers to reach.
Graveline scored his team’s first run on a double steal, and after Brodie Kresser worked a walk, Ben Lumsden continued to be a postseason standout and connected for a three-run home run.
“It’s been awesome, but everybody has kind of played awesome,” Lumsden said. “The whole team has been incredible for two weeks now.”
Tyrus Hall followed with a solo home run for a 5-1 lead, and the Mountaineers scored twice more in the inning after Chris Downs replaced starting pitcher Carson Turnquist — first on a Sean Smith single and again on Graveline’s groundout that brought home Gavin Kelly.
“We ran into a real good ball club, multi-faceted and not a good matchup for us,” Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee said. “Hats off to them. They’re good and do a lot of things very well. We just weren’t able to hang with them. Hopefully they’re successful in Omaha and I think they can be.”
Pitching with a comfortable lead was beneficial to WVU starter Maxx Yehl, who retired the side in order in the second and third innings. In between, WVU got a two-run home run from Armani Guzman (his first this season) and scored a 10th run on a Paul Schoenfeld single.
“I’ve been trying to hit home runs for a while and finally got one today,” Guzman said. “I knew I got it, but I thought with our wind, it might keep it in the park.”
At that point, WVU had scored three or more runs in five of 11 innings of the Super Regional series.
“I don’t think we’ve matched up with a team like this at least at this part of the season,” Lee said. “They had everything going for them. We played some quality ball clubs, but these guys are hot right now.”
Lumsden hit a second home run in the fourth, this one a two-run shot to give him 21 postseason RBI for his career — a new WVU record.
“That guy has been through every up and down over the course of history and he just keeps coming back for more,” Sabins said.
Kelly led off the fifth with a solo blast giving West Virginia five home runs in a game for the first time in Sabins’ two seasons as head coach, and the Mountaineers held a 14-1 lead through five after Yehl worked around a pair of singles that inning to keep the Mustangs (39-24) off the scoreboard a fourth straight frame.
A run-scoring single from Guzman highlighted a two-run sixth for WVU — its third straight inning scoring two.
Graveline scored the team’s 17th and final run in the seventh after he led off with a single.
David Hagen relieved Yehl and worked two scoreless innings, before giving way to Ian Korn, who kept the Mustangs off the board in the eighth.
Korn’s outing came after a delay of 1 hour and 37 minutes with a brief, but heavy storm passing through the area along with lightning.
Bridgeport native Ben McDougal recorded the final three outs, including two by strikeout.
“For Ben McDougal to send us to Omaha is a movie script,” Sabins said.
WVU, which had 42 home runs over its first 53 games this season, hit 13 in seven games across the Morgantown Regional and Super Regional series.
Since being shutout by Kansas in the Big 12 title game, WVU has 75 runs in seven NCAA Tournament games and no fewer than six in any contest.
“The offense the last seven games has been incredible,” Sabins said. “Seventeen runs in a Super Regional game is unheard of. I’m glad it’s happening now. It’s a good time to do it.”
The Mountaineers’ 19-hit effort Saturday featured three apiece from Kelly and Lumsden, while Guzman, Schoenfeld, Graveline, Kresser and Hall had two each.
“Kind of a loss of words. We’re excited to get to Omaha,” Kresser said. “We know we can win that thing. Just trying to take it all in right now.”
Guzman also tied Victor Scott for the most stolen bases in a season in WVU history with 38.
Yehl had his second straight strong five-inning start and allowed one run on four hits with four strikeouts and one base-on-balls.
Kordic led Cal Poly with three hits and was 5-for-8 over two Super Regional games.
Turnquist was the losing pitcher and surrendered six runs on four hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts over one inning.
The Mountaineers will play either Friday or Saturday in their CWS opener against Troy. The Trojans (38-30) swept Little Rock in a Super Regional and have won six straight since losing their Gainesville Regional opener to Miami.
“We’re going to rest and reset,” Sabins said, “and focus on what’s ahead of us.”
