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Kentucky and West Virginia will meet in another 'bar fight' with super regional berth on the line

Adam Luckettby: Adam Luckett06/01/26adamluckettksr

Kentucky. West Virginia. Morgantown regional. Game 7. The winner hosts a super regional. We all better buckle up for another roller coaster right.

There are six super regional spots available after Alabama, Cal Poly, Georgia, Kansas, Little Rock, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Oregon, and Texas advanced on Sunday. That means six rubber match games in a sudden death situation. We will see madness. The Morgantown regional has been the ultimate chaos agent. Some more anarchy is on the way.

West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins called the meetings with Kentucky a “bar fight” after Saturday’s epic 11-9 win for the Mountaineers. Anyone who has watched these two teams fight it out in the postseason over the last two seasons understands why. All the Wildcats and Mountaineers do is play bangers. We’re likely in for another wild ride on Monday.

Buckle in, Big Blue Nation. KSR is setting the stage for another chaotic night of college baseball.

SATURDAY RECAP: Kentucky 11, West Virginia 9

SUNDAY RECAP: West Virginia 11, Kentucky 9

Who does Kentucky give the ball to?

Weekend starters Jaxon Jelkin, Nate Harris, and Ben Cleaver have all been used. That leaves just one more SEC starter left for the winner-take-all-game against West Virginia. Connor Mattison should be getting the ball for Kentucky.

The Grand Canyon transfer has made 14 appearances with six starts this season. Mattison (8.10 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 36.2 IP, 37 K) has gives up a lot of dingers (4.6% home run rate allowed). There have been some rough starts, but the junior has produced some good moments. This is how the Arizona native has performed in starts against power conference competition.

  • Louisville (April 7): 3 IP, 0 H, ER, 3 K, 2 BB/HBP
  • Vanderbilt (April 19): 5.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 5 K, 4 BB/HBP
  • South Carolina (April 26): 4.2 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 8 K, 2 BB/HBP
  • Tennessee (May 3): 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 K, 1 BB/HBP
  • Arkansas (May 16): 0.0 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 0 K, 1 BB/HBP

Kentucky is 2-3 in Mattison starts. Home runs (4 allowed over 5 starts) have been a problem but free passes (13.4% BB/HBP rate) has been a bigger issue. The latter is more worrisome tonight against a West Virginia lineup that wants to grind at-bats and create basepath traffic. Mattison has had two weeks off since his worst performance of the season against Arkansas and will look to give Kentucky a similar performance to his first three starts.

Expect a heavy changeup diet from No. 12. Where does Kentucky go whenever he leaves the game? That is anyone’s guess, but a longer start than what UK got from Nate Harris (3.2 IP) and Ben Cleaver (0.1 IP) against West Virginia will likely be needed.

Runs will be needed

Connor Mattison has allowed four earned runs or more in each start since throwing three hitless innings against Louisville. West Virginia is going to score some runs tonight. Kentucky will need to score some runs. Both teams will see some back of the bullpen arms. The offense must come up huge for the Bat Cats on Monday.

Kentucky has scored 20 runs through two games against West Virginia with four home runs and three doubles. Tyler Bell found the big fly button twice on Sunday after a tough start to regional. Jayce Tharnish (7-14, 2 XBH, 2 stolen bases), Luke Lawrence (4-12, 2 XBH, 3 RBI), Braxton Van Cleave (5-13, HR, 6 RBI), and Ethan Hindle (4-12, 5 RBI) have delivered this weekend. The lineup must continue to deliver on Saturday.

The offense went cold outside of the solo home runs in second half of Sunday’s game against West Virginia. Kentucky cannot afford for it to go cold again in this sudden death game. The Cats need to score some runs.

What the numbers tell us about this matchup

This is what the data says about this NCAA Tournament contest.

West Virginia

  • Record: 43-15 (21-9)
  • RPI: 16
  • DSR: 10
  • Runs: 7.3 (No. 74 overall)
  • Home Runs: 42 (No. 213 overall)
  • OBP: .404 (No. 43 overall)
  • Slugging: .451 (No. 106 overall)
  • Runs Allowed: 4.2 (No. 10 overall)
  • ERA: 3.86 (No. 9 overall)
  • WHIP: 1.29 (No. 13 overall)
  • K Rate: 24.9% (No. 28 overall)
  • Walk Rate: 10.5% (No. 114 overall)

Kentucky

  • Record: 33-22 (13-17)
  • RPI: 37
  • DSR: 30
  • Runs: 7.1 (No. 100 overall)
  • Home Runs: 55 (No. 142 overall)
  • OBP: .399 (No. 63 overall)
  • Slugging: .457 (No. 94 overall)
  • Runs Allowed: 5.3 (No. 77 overall)
  • ERA: 5.36 (No. 97 overall)
  • WHIP: 1.49 (No. 83 overall)
  • K Rate: 22.7% (No. 54 overall)
  • Walk Rate: 11.1% (No. 155 overall)

Kentucky and West Virginia are very similar on offense. Neither team has a ton of power and each is not really built to win shootouts. That hasn’t stopped them in the Morgantown regional. Stolen bases and free passes have let to scoring plays. We likely see the same on Monday night.

Who To Watch For: West Virginia Mountaineers

— Armani Guzman (1B/RF | L/R | 5-10, 205): You don’t see a first baseman/right field utility player leading a team in steals very often, but that is happening in Morgantown. Guzman was the Clemson Regional MVP last season who has played multiple positions as a junior. The veteran leads the team stolen bases (35). Guzman has 18 doubles, owns a .405 on-base percentage, and is 7-16 in this regional with five free passes. Good things happen for West Virginia when he is on base. He’s gotten on base a lot against Kentucky.

— Tyrus Hall (3B | R/R | 6-2, 210): The junior college transfer from Canada has come up big for West Virginia this weekend. Hall is 5-14 at the plate with three of those hits occurring against Kentucky. No. 9 hitters have give the Cats some issues all season and Hall’s terrific play on a squeeze bunt in the fourth inning on Sunday might have prevented Kentucky from running away with a regional title.

— Gavin Kelly (C/2B | R/R | 6-0, 175): The sophomore utility player from Pittsburgh earned first-team All-Big 12 honors this season. Kelly enters Monday’s tilt with a .379/.480/.694 slash line. West Virginia’s star has 18 doubles, 3 triples, and 15 home runs this season. Kelly leads this team in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, doubles, home runs, RBI (55), and OPS (1.174). Kelly is 6-16 with two doubles, two home runs, seven RBI, and five free passes in the regional.

— Maxx Yehl (LHP | 6-6, 235): West Virginia’s ace was chased from Saturday’s game against Kentucky in the first inning after recording just two outs, allowing four runs (zero earned), and throwing just 15 strikes over 36 pitches. Yehl was dealing with some shoulder tightness against Kentucky but threw in the bullpen on Sunday and will likely be available on Monday.

How To Watch: No. 1 West Virginia vs. No. 3 Kentucky

Kentucky and West Virginia each have one loss in the Morgantown regional. That sets up a sudden death matchup on Monday. The Cats and Mountaineers will play under the lights at Kendrick Family Ballpark. The place should be rocking again.

  • Game Day: Monday, June 1
  • First Pitch: 6 p.m. ET
  • TV: ESPN2 (Tom Hart, Jensen Lewis)
  • Radio: UK Sports Network (Darren Headrick)
  • AM: 630 WLAP
  • Online: iHeart Radio

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2026-06-04