GRANVILLE — In the top of the third innings, West Virginia baseball’s leadoff Armani Guzman crushed an inside pitch over the right field wall. Guzman hadn’t hit a home run all season and saved his blast in Game 2 against Cal Poly, with a trip to WVU’s first-ever College World Series on the line.
“It was cool,” Guzman said. “I’ve been trying to hit home runs for a while. But I finally got one today. I knew I got it, but I thought with our wind that it might keep it in the park. I was happier for my teammates who really wanted me to hit one more than I was for myself.”
You know it’s a good day when even Guzman homers, who hadn’t trotted around the bases in any of his 213 at-bats heading into the game. Something must’ve been in the air at Kendrick Family Ballpark. With a record-setting crowd and a good couple of thousand on the hill, now nicknamed “Randy’s Ridge” after former head coach Randy Mazey, there could easily be a lot of things in the air. But, in WVU’s 17-1 win over Cal Poly in the first-ever Morgantown Super Regional, home runs were definitely one of them.
“They are coming in bunches,” head coach Steve Sabins said. “Power definitely comes and usually develops later in careers, so I think we’re seeing some of those players come into that. There is some warm weather, experience, at-bats, excitement, juice in bodies, good things happening.”
Guzman’s two-run homer was the Mountaineers third of the game, and his came in just the third inning. Ben Lumsden, who hadn’t had a homer in the regular season, notched his second home run of the postseason, making it 4-1 in the second. A minute later, Tyrus Hall blasted a solo shot 393 feet, making it 5-1. Hall hit a grand slam in Game 1 of the super regional.
That’s not all. Lumsden, or Mr. May/June to some people, hit another one out in the fourth inning.
“It’s been awesome,” Lumsden said on heating up in the postseason. “The whole team has been incredible for two weeks now.”
WVU’s leader in homers and top 2027 MLB Draft prospect, Gavin Kelly, joined in on the fun. Kelly homered down the left field line for his 17th of the season. The Mountaineers catcher and second baseman has hit four this postseason, consisting of seven games so far. Kelly said a lot of his success has been because of former teammate Sam White. White was one of the Mountaineers top hitters last season.
“I got a really good relationship with him,” Kelly said. “I have a Sam White tribute in my locker. It blesses me.”
The Mountaineers hit five home runs Saturday afternoon, which is the most in a game this season. WVU’s offense tallied 29 runs over the two games, which was the third-most in two games in super regional history. It beat out LSU in 2025, who had 28.
“We had an approach as a team today,” Lumsden said. “We executed it well across the board. We had a good approach. Coaches set us up for success. Pretty much everybody executed today.”
All the home runs gave a shot of confidence to pitcher Maxx Yehl. Yehl was shaky in the first inning, allowing the only run for Cal Poly in the game, but he settled in the second and from there on out. He pitched five innings, had just four hits, walked a batter and struck out four.
WVU isn’t known for its power, either. The Mountaineers were at the bottom of the Big 12 in home runs, and before the super regional, Sabins described his team as having a “West Coast” offense, meaning it’s a lot of small ball and stringing together base hits. That wasn’t the case for the entirety of the super regional.
Hall hit a grand slam in Game 1, and Sean Smith knocked in three runs on a homer in the first inning. In the regional and super regional, WVU has totaled 13, and has almost hit one out in every postseason game.
Sabins said towards the end of the regular season, the team had a lot of barrels, or solid contact, but they just weren’t getting fortunate enough to put the ball over the fence.
Now, in the postseason and a trip to Omaha, Nebraska, on its way, the Mountaineers are finally showing off the power.
“The offense in the last seven games has been incredible,” Sabins said. “We scored 17 runs in a super regional, that’s kind of unheard of. I’m glad that it’s happening now. It’s a good time to do it.”
