Richard ObertArizona Republic
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TUCSON — A year ago this time, left-hander Derek Clark was somewhere in the Midwest wrapping up a Gold Glove year on the mound at the NCAA Division II level.
On Friday, in the first round of the Tucson Regional at Hi Corbett Field, he was knocking down a hard grounder behind his back in the first inning, picking off a runner at first base in the third inning, and shutting down Dallas Baptist's powerful lineup in a 4-1 victory for West Virginia.
The third-seeded Mountaineers (34-24), an at-large NCAA Tournament team that was knocked out of the Big 12 Tournament with losses to TCU and Kansas State, moves into Saturday's winner's bracket game at 7 p.m. (Arizona time) against the winner of Friday's night game between No. 1 Arizona and No. 4 Grand Canyon.
No. 2 DBU (44-14) falls into Saturday's 1 p.m., loser's bracket against the Arizona-GCU loser.
"That's not unusual for him to make a great play on defense and pick off at least one guy off base," West Virginia coach Randy Mazey said. "It's why he's been so good. He just does everything well. I think he won a Gold Glove at Division II. I don't know if they have one in Division I. If they do, it should go to this guy.
"That changes the results, how good he is at fielding his position."
DBU was shut out until Luke Heefner's sacrifice fly in the eighth gave the Patriots their only run. Clark walked the first batter he faced in the eighth, then allowed a double by Alex Pendergast, who had two of his team's four hits.
But the Patriots weren't able to turn it into a big inning with Clark bearing down to retire the next three batters. He sat down the last five batters he faced.
Clark was going up against one of the best right-handers in college baseball in Ryan Johnson, the USA Conference Pitcher of the Year, who rarely walks batters, let alone hit a batter, and makes batters go after pitches out of the zone.
But in the third, Johnson walked the No. 8 batter. After a sacrifice bunt, Johnson hit leadoff man JJ Wetherholt. Catcher Logan Sauve, the next batter, blasted a three-run homer over the center field wall.
Clark was locked in since he woke up Friday morning, he said.
"Right when I woke up this morning, I knew I was going to be ready," Clark said. "I had a week-and-a-half off. I fixed up some things. Yeah, just waking up and being ready to go."
Mazey wasn't surprised Clark would outduel 11-win right-hander Johnson.
"I introduced (Clark) to a group of fans in Morgantown before we left for here," Mazey said. "I said, 'Our fate Friday is in this player's hands, and I wouldn't want it in any other player's hands.'
"A lot of people picked this pitching matchup as the one to watch out for. You had the little lefty against the big, tall right-hander with all the stuff. The little lefty with all the heart. And heart won today, that's for sure."
A disciplined approach at the plate helped the Mountaineers, especially Wetherholt, a projected top-10 MLB draft pick this summer, who walked and was hit by a pitch in his first two at-bats, which Mazey felt impacted the game's outcome.
In the first inning, Sauve hit into a double play after Wetherholt walked to open the game.
"The next time up, Coach Mazey told me to stick to a right-center approach," Sauve said. "I picked it up pretty early and got it over the plate and got a barrel on it."
That was the most damage West Virginia did on offense. Reed Chumley's RBI double in the sixth gave the Mountaineers a 4-0 lead. Johnson went six innings, giving up six hits and four runs, walking two, and striking out four.
Clark gave up just four hits and the earned run, walking none and striking out eight, throwing a total of 101 pitches.
"I don't know what the statistic are, but the chances of winning the regional go way down if you don't win the first one," Mazey said. "That's the third time we've done that, though, in my career, won the first game. We haven't won the second one yet. That would be cool. If we win tomorrow, that's something the Mountaineers have never done, win the first two games of a regional. We definitely have a ton to play for."
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.comor 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
