Kentucky falls to West Virginia in Clemson Regional heartbreaker

The Kentucky Wildcats’ road through the NCAA Tournament hit an early speed bump Friday as they suffered a gut-wrenching 4-3 loss to West Virginia in the opening round of the Clemson Regional.

Despite entering the tournament on a four-game losing streak, Kentucky (29-25) showed early signs of snapping out of its slump. The Wildcats took a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning after capitalizing on West Virginia’s defensive miscues.

Ryan Schwartz opened the scoring in the third, crossing the plate on a high bunt from Kyuss Gargett. Then in the fourth, a costly throwing error by WVU shortstop Brodie Kresser allowed two more runs to score, giving UK its largest lead of the game.

Sadly, momentum quickly shifted in the bottom of the fifth. Kentucky committed a pair of throwing errors, one from third baseman Patrick Herrera and another from second baseman Luke Lawrence, which helped the Mountaineers claw back two runs and cut the deficit to one.

In the sixth, WVU tied it up at 3-3 after Gavin Kelly doubled and later scored on an RBI single by Kresser.

The deciding moment came in the bottom of the ninth. After Kentucky stranded two runners in the top half, West Virginia’s Brodie Kresser led off with a double and came home on a sacrifice fly from Armani Guzman, giving the Mountaineers the walk-off win.

Kentucky now moves into the elimination bracket and will face the loser of Friday night’s Clemson vs. USC Upstate game. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM ET on Saturday.