West Virginia lands commitment from UT Arlington infielder Ben Lumsden

Former UT Arlington infielder Ben Lumsden has committed to play for West Virginia, according to a tweet he retweeted on Saturday evening. Lumsden will have three years of eligibility remaining.

At 6-foot-3 and nearly 200 pounds, Lumsden has a promising frame to build on. And his freshman numbers offered promise, too.

Lumsden hit .237 and shown some power with 11 home runs. He’s also driven in 38 runs. His 69 strikeouts could use some work, but the upside as a hitter is there and now he’s going to give it a go in the Big 12 with West Virginia.

Lumsden is a native of South Carolina and attended high school in Greenville, South Carolina, not too far from the Clemson campus. He played at UT Arlington with his older brother, Matthew Lumsden.

He joins a West Virginia program that’s been broadly successful in the last decade and a half. Including 2010, the Mountaineers have had 10 winning seasons in 14 years. They made the NCAA tournament in 2023, getting bounced in the Lexington Regional.

With Lumsden in the fold, the Mountaineers are likely to be back in the mix as one of the better teams in college baseball in 2024 — just as West Virginia has been for a decade-plus now.

West Virginia was among the teams at the Lexington Regional sleeping in dorms

According to Ben Upton of the 11Point7 Podcast, there was not enough room in local hotels to accommodate the coaches and players due to Railbird Music Festival also set to take place in the city this weekend.

West Virginia, Indiana and Ball State are the teams set to join the Wildcats in the Regional. But while Kentucky will allow the players and coaches from those teams to stay on campus, there is still the question of where their families traveling to see them as well as fans of the teams might stay.

Kentucky sent out a message to the teams to give them an idea of what to expect with their visit. The athletes stayed in four-person suites with a shared restroom, but had the option to convert to two-person suites for additional space. Coaches will stayed in one person suites with a private restroom.

UK also had staff on hand to clean the rooms daily and provide hotel-quality linens. Additionally, the Wildcats provided meals to the visiting coaches and players both in the dorm building and at Kroger Field, the school’s football stadium.