{"id":661439,"date":"2026-03-07T17:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T22:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/?p=661439"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T22:37:16","slug":"kressers-walk-off-grand-slam-lifts-wvu-over-columbia-in-10-innings-9-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/07\/kressers-walk-off-grand-slam-lifts-wvu-over-columbia-in-10-innings-9-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Kresser&#8217;s walk-off grand slam lifts WVU over Columbia in 10 innings, 9-5"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding: 56.25% 0 0 0; position: relative;\"><iframe style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" title=\"Kresser's walk-off grand slam lifts WVU over Columbia in 10 innings, 9-5\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1171392460?badge=0&amp;autopause=0&amp;player_id=0&amp;app_id=58479\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/api\/player.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>GRANVILLE, W.Va.<\/strong> &#8212; Denied a chance to potentially be the hero in the ninth inning, WVU second baseman Brodie Kresser did not waste a second opportunity when another came in the tenth. Kresser delivered his first walk-off home run at any level of baseball with a grand slam as the Mountaineers defeated Columbia, 9-5 in 10 innings.<\/p>\n<p>With two out, Kresser launched a line drive home run just beyond the wall to the left of the bullpen in left field, touching off a raucous celebration in front of a crowd of 2,885 fans at Wagener Field\/Kendrick Family Ballpark.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I kind of blacked out there. But I knew it had a chance,&#8221; Kresser said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a barnburner today. Things weren&#8217;t going our way and then we&#8217;d get things going. They answered right back. To do it in extras in the tenth inning was pretty special.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you accomplish certain things, you get to carry yourself differently. You get to walk tall or you get to have that confidence,&#8221; said WVU head coach Steve Sabins. &#8220;Kresser has been swinging the bat well. But he hadn&#8217;t driven the ball like that in a while. I think that was really important for him and our team. You saw jubilation out of that team today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>With the game tied at 5 in the bottom of the ninth, Kresser stepped to the plate with a runner on first. He hit a sharp ground ball down the left field line that could have produced the winning run but would have at least put two runners in scoring position for West Virginia. However, Sabins called for time just before the pitch was thrown.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That was unbelievable. We have PitchCom, which is how you control the signs. I gave Kresser a bunt the first pitch. I gave Kresser a bunt on the second pitch. But the PitchCom has different modes. Essentially, the mode had flipped over and I pushed &#8216;steal&#8217;. We did not want to steal in the biggest moment in that situation. So I called timeout pretty early. Unfortunately, that was not granted in a hurry,&#8221; Sabins said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is poetic the fact that Kresser comes up later that game with the bases loaded and hits a homer. He is screaming in my face to not feel sorry about the timeout call. He is just a team-oriented guy and knows how this thing flows.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The game-winning opportunities may not have been possible without a pair of brilliant defensive plays from left fielder Matthew Graveline. With the game tied at 5 in the top of the ninth, Graveline, who shares time at catcher with Gavin Kelly, robbed Owen Estabrook of a potential two-run home run.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The wind was blowing out pretty hard today,&#8221; Graveline said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t get much action in the first few innings. I just stayed ready. I was playing pretty deep just in case something like that happened. The ball was traveling pretty well today. I wasn&#8217;t too far from the fence. Once I got to the fence, I kind of just jumped up and caught it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>An inning earlier, Graveline cut down the potential go-ahead run for Columbia. A Jackson Brewer double scored Hunter Snyder to tie the game. However, Graveline&#8217;s throw home ended the inning.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I knew I had to make a really good relay to Matt Ineich,&#8221; Graveline said. &#8220;It was a good throw and he also made a really good throw to home. [Gavin] Kelly made a really good tag.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Graveline&#8217;s defensive heroics, first baseman Armani Guzman made a pair of sterling defensive plays in the early innings. Guzman&#8217;s first collegiate start at first base came last week in WVU&#8217;s home opener against Ohio.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Guzman was incredible. You guys are learning as I am too because he has played a lot of infield. But you don&#8217;t necessarily know what you are going to see when the lights turn on and you&#8217;ve got a different glove. He was exceptional.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>WVU starting pitcher Chansen Cole produced five scoreless innings before running into trouble in the sixth. A four-run rally from the Lions (2-6) gave them a 4-3 lead.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He kept them off balance. He did what he does. He got to 87 pitches today. It looked like going out for the sixth, it didn&#8217;t look like the same stuff,&#8221; Sabins said of Cole.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But if you give the Mountaineers five innings, five hits, three runs, we are going to be in every ballgame.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>David Perez (2.1 IP) earned the win in relief for West Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We just played really clean defense that allowed us to stay in the game the entire day,&#8221; Sabins said. It wasn&#8217;t easy, that&#8217;s for damn sure. Nothing has been easy for a couple days. It felt like our team needed that. They had been working for that. Maybe they were pressing a little bit. But man, they battled.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Brewer had two hits and drove in two runs for the Lions. Kelly and Sean Smith each collected three hits for WVU (9-3).<\/p>\n<p>The rubber game of the series will be played Sunday at 12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Steve Sabins on the value of an extra-inning, walk-off victory to halt a 2-game losing streak: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IQeuD6Rn7I\">pic.twitter.com\/IQeuD6Rn7I<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joebrowvm\/status\/2030397468760760668?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 7, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mountaineers rallied in the late innings to put a halt to a brief two-game losing streak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":661451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-661439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-wvu-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - 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