Photo courtesy of BlueGoldNews.com WVU pitcher Griffin Kirn walks off the field during Friday’s 4-3 win over Kentucky in NCAA Division I regional action.

MORGANTOWN — How do you describe the indescribable? How do you explain the inexplicable?

And, finally, how did West Virginia pull off a 4-3 walk-off victory over Kentucky in the opening game of the Clemson Regional on Friday afternoon in a game that was delayed by weather for a seemingly endless 2 hours and 41 minutes that turned out to be well worth the wait?

It was the team’s first walk off victory of a season in which they have now won a school-record 42 games.

It was game of small ball and redemption; of courage by a pitcher, Griffin Kirn, who wouldn’t let a slow start and shaky defense derail him or by a coach, Steve Sabins, who took two regulars out of his lineup to play third baseman Armani Guzman, who had not started a game since May 4 but became the Player of the Game, and Ben Lumsden, who had only four hit all season but contributed a key sacrifice bunt as he played in place the slumping Grant Hussey, who has been mired in a deep slump of late.

Redemption? That’s what it was all about for shortstop Brodie Kresser, so sure at shortstop all season but who made a pair of errors, one of them a throwing error on which two runs scored in the fourth inning as the Wildcats took a 3-0 lead.

But there he was standing at the plate leading off the bottom of the ninth with the score tied at 3-3.

Only he knows what was going through his head but he knew he wanted redemption and, as he would say, “the opportunity came up.”

Kresser was thinking to bunt as he went to the plate but the defense wasn’t giving him that. He had to come up with something else.

“I didn’t want to let the moment get too big,” he admitted. “I wasn’t playing my best defense and the opportunity meant a lot to me”

What did he do?

He lofted a drive into the left-field corner that left-fielder Cole Hage tried to run down. He came close, but a diving attempt saw the ball fall about six inches beyond the tip of his glove down the left field, Kresser hustling it into a double.

Moments later he found himself hustling for third base on a passed ball against Devin Burks.

No one out, winning run at third, Guzman coming to the plate.,

Guzman had started early in the season but injuries put him out of action. However, in the Big 12 Tournament loss to Arizona he collected a couple of hits, which made Sabins think he might be able to give WVU a spark.

“Armani Guzman has had spot starts throughout the season but when Sam White got injured early in the year that virtually eliminated his playing time. He’s stayed positive, he’s stayed motivated, he worked his butt off during the year and then gets to start in the biggest game of the season and leads our team,” Sabins said.

And how did Guzman find out he would be starting at third base? Well, it happened in the final inning of a loss at Arizona.

“He got to third base and we were getting shut out. I said to him when he got to third base ‘Damnit, Guzman. I’ve got to put you at third base. It’s killing me going to bed every night knowing you aren’t going to be in the lineup. Can you play third base?”

The answer was “I can play third base, Sabs.”

“That’s how that evolved because he was heavy on my heart for about two weeks. The team wasn’t doing good and you have this great player with a good attitude.”

He was more than a spark, he was more like a roaring fire as he went 2 for 3, hit a double, drove in a run, and stole a base.

Now he came to the plate with the game on the line, and sent a sinking line drive. It could have been his third hit but centerfielder Griffin Cameron came in and made a spectacular diving catch.

Kresser tagged at third and came home in a cloud of dust as he delivered the winning run with a head-first slide. As it was at the start of the game when they had to wait, they had to wait at the end for the umpires to study a replay and make sure that Kresser had tagged up.

He had. That’s an error he wasn’t going to make in this one.

“I was just kinda trying to hit it,” Guzman said of the last at bat. He made a good pitch but I hit it good enough to get it out to centerfield.”

Guzman had been joined in the starting lineup by Lumsden, who had twice hit the ball hard in that Arizona loss, including a 405-foot fly, to give Sabins confidence in inserting him at first base.

And, while he was hitless and owns but a .114 batting average, in the sixth inning he had set up the tying run when a life-saving — for the Mountaineers and himself — sacrifice bunt to tie the game at 3-3.

The pitch he bunted might well hit him right between the eyes, bunting it as he fell backward in the batter’s box.

Kresser took care of driving in Gavin Kelly, who had opened the inning with a double, by grounding out to shortstop.

All of this leaves us with Kirn, who has developed into the ace of the staff. The senior left-hander did not seem comfortable at the start, perhaps due to the weather delay. As he always is, he was fidgety on the mound, shrugging his shoulders, windmilling his pitching arm, walking around the mound.

But after Kresser’s throwing error led to two runs and a 3-0 deficit, he said “Enough is enough” and courageously pitched into the 8th, throwing 118 pitches, 76 of which were strikes.

Between Kresser’s two errors, the second one being on the last batter Kirn faced, he gave up just one hit and one walk.

“He was awesome,” Kresser said of Kirn. “He brings energy to us and you can’t take the ball out of his hand.”

When they did, Reese Bassinger came out of the bullpen and got the win, to go to 7-1 for the year. As important as his pitching was his reaction when he struck out Luke Lawrence with runners at first and second, leaving the mound screaming and flexing his arms.