Relief effort, speed spark WVU’s series-tying victory
With the early departure of Maxx Yehl and Gavin Kelly, No. 15 West Virginia needed others to step up. Right-handed pitcher Ian Korn and utility Armani Guzman came up huge in the 7-1 win against Houston. The two discussed their high-level performances in place of the typical tone setters.
Gritty Korn Outing
With Yehl leaving the game in the third inning, Korn was first in relief. He posted five innings with four strikeouts. Of the 17 batters he saw, only four reached base, while allowing one earned run en route to his third win of the season.
Yehl did not look like himself early, so Korn had an idea that he would be inserted early. He knew it would be “gritty” with the quick warmup coming off short rest, throwing two scoreless innings against Penn State in the midweek game on April 15.
“It was a gritty outing. As you said, short rest coming off of Wednesday’s outing, but I kind of had an idea that Yehl was hurting a little bit today, so I was prepared to go pretty early in the game,” Korn said.
Staying Ready
As Yehl’s velocity was down, it was clear to see he would not last long as an injury precaution. Korn saw this and started to loosen up in the first inning.
“We had an idea in the first inning that [Yehl] was feeling a little down with his arm,” Korn said. “I was able to move around and get the arm ready. But once we had that injury time out, I had all the time I needed to get ready. So no problem there.”
Facing Adversity
Looking at Korn’s final stat line, there seems to be no hiccups, but that was not the case. After coming in for Yehl, he inherited a runner on first base with no outs. He forced a groundout, which put a runner on second, then a passed ball placed him on third base. Korn surrendered his only walk of the game before punching out the next two Cougars.
Despite a shaky start, Korn stuck to his process with the ultimate goal of limiting damage.
“Just sticking to my process and playing out there. Big spot in the game, 0-0 ball game, just trying to limit the base runners and keep them from scoring. And it’s definitely more comfortable throwing without runners on base, but sometimes you just have to bear down and keep them there,” Korn said.
The seven innings Korn threw this week lowered his ERA to 3.22, as he entered with a 3.65. He’s come a long way from his first six outings of the season, where his ERA sat above 5.00. Korn does not look too much into the past, rather focusing on winning one pitch at a time.
“I don’t like looking too far into past outings. I’m just looking to go out there and do the same thing every time,” Korn said. “Statistically, some of the outings weren’t the greatest. But you know, I thought I’d thrown the ball pretty well even in those outings. And today was one of those days where I had pretty much everything going for me.”
Guzman Starts The Rally
While Korn kept Houston off the scoreboard, Guzman put the Mountaineers in the lead. Even though it started in an out, Guzman used his speed to apply pressure on the Cougars, leading to WVU’s first lead of the series.
In the fifth inning, Brodie Kresser walked. Guzman came up and grounded into what would have been a tailor-made double play for most, but not him. He beat the shortstop’s throw to first, then stole second and third base. This set up a sacrifice bunt from Matthew Graveline, allowing Guzman to cross the plate.
Walking through the sequence, Guzman explained the communication he has with manager Steve Sabins and how they use his speed to their advantage.
“Sabns and I have pretty good communication on when I run and when I don’t run. But outside of that, just trying to use my speed to my advantage,” Guzman said. “I’d rather not hit a ground ball and beat out the double play. But when it comes to stealing bases and getting that bunt was big time, just using my speed and getting us runs.”
Big 12 Leader
This season, Guzman leads the Big 12 with 23 stolen bases, while only being caught once. With his reputation for swiping bags, it’s impressive that he still holds a 95.8% stolen base rate. He accounts for his ability through increased repetitions in the offseason.
“In the fall, we have a thing called mulligans,” Guzman said. So anytime you steal in the fall, if you get thrown out, you get to go again. So it’s just one of those things where we’ve got so many reps through the fall and early spring that we’re all super comfortable when it comes to stealing bases.”
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