West Virginia secures spot in NCAA Super Regional with stunning late-game rally

Just like on Friday and Saturday, resilience was the name of the game for West Virginia baseball as they took the diamond at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina on Sunday hoping to sweep their second consecutive NCAA Regional.

The Mountaineers had to fight from deficits during each of their first two games, but they faced their largest deficit of the weekend during Sunday's back-and-forth battle with Kentucky. In fact, they faced such a deficit twice in one game -- but were able to defy the odds and stage two massive comebacks to eventually pull off a 13-12 win and advance to an NCAA Super Regional for the second year in a row.

The Wildcats entered fresh off a win Sunday afternoon to eliminate 1-seed and host Clemson where their bats caught fire and drove home 16 runs, and carried that momentum into their second game of the evening.

Kentucky kept their bats rolling early against West Virginia, allowing the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead in the first inning before racking up six unaswered runs to take a 6-1 lead through the top of the fourth inning. And that's when West Virginia decided it was time to rally. The Mountaineers pieced together a four-hit, six-run inning as stormed back to take a 7-6 lead before the fifth inning even got underway.

But then the bats went cold for West Virginia, but not for Kentucky -- the Wildcats continued to add runs to the scoreboard, scoring six more combined unanswered runs over the next four innings, leaving the Mountaineers reaching deep into a bullpen that's been described as shallow at best this season.

West Virginia came out in the bottom of the eighth and found themselves quickly facing two outs, and it seemed inevitable the Wildcats were going to ride the momentum of the day into forcing a winner-takes-all Monday game with the Mountaineers. And that's when West Virginia decided it was time to rally -- again.

Despite the constant threat of that third out hanging over their head, the Mountaineers managed to advance seven straight runners to base and blew through four of Kentucky's relievers to pull off another six-run inning before the Wildcats' fifth pitcher of the inning wrapped up what felt like an endless inning.

And that's when the West Virginia Head Coach Steve Sabins made his power move -- smelling blood in the water, he sent Griffin Kirn to the mound, who has served as the team's consistent Game One starter this season. Kirn was fresh and ready to play, and handled business efficiently -- he recorded three quick outs while allowing just one hit to secure WVU's spot in the Super Regional round.

West Virginia will now advance to face either LSU or Little Rock next weekend in a Best 2-out-of-3 series in the NCAA Super Regional to determine whether they'll advance to the College World Series in Omaha. If LSU wins, they'll travel to Baton Rouge for the series, while West Virginia would be presented the opportunity their first-ever Super Regional with a Little Rock win.