Kentucky found itself in a familiar spot Friday in its NCAA Tournament opener against West Virginia.

And that wasn't a good place to be.

The Wildcats held a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning before unraveling in the latter half of the game. West Virginia scored three of the game's final four runs on UK defensive mistakes, including a pair of two-out throwing errors in the fifth inning and a passed ball in the ninth inning that led to a sacrifice fly by Armani Guzman for a 4-3 walk-off victory.

Guzman's fly ball to centerfield scored Brodie Kresser, who led off the inning with a double to left field.

Kentucky (29-25) suffered its 16th loss in games decided by two or fewer runs. In their final regular-season series of the year, the Cats led all three games against No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt in the sixth inning or later but were swept in Nashville.

West Virginia (42-14) advances in the Clemson Regional as the 2 seed to face the winner of tonight's Clemson (1) vs. USC Upstate (4) matchup. UK will face the loser of that game on Saturday in the elimination bracket.

The third-seeded Cats were their own worst enemy for most of the day.

Kentucky had the bases loaded with one out in the first inning before Ryan Schwartz grounded into an inning-ending double-play.

In the fifth, UK starter Ben Cleaver was cruising toward his fifth straight shutout inning before a pair of two-out throwing errors by Patrick Herrera and Luke Lawrence allowed WVU to pull within 3-2.

The Mountaineers tied it at 3-3 in the sixth on an RBI grounder by Kresser after Gavin Kelly led off with a double.

Meanwhile, WVU starter Griffin Kirn was in the process of mowing down the Cats. He recovered from the shaky start to retire the final eight batters he faced.

“I give him credit because we had him on the ropes in the first, and then we got him in the fourth,” Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said. “We had more opportunities. Most of the time, when you get a starter on the ropes a third time, you get him. But to his credit, he just made pitches. And they made good plays. We crushed some balls right at them. I think it was a little bit of both. Great execution on his part, some hard-hit balls right at people. But his ability to throw multiple pitches for a strike was the difference.”

Reese Bassinger (7-1) picked up the win by working around an error and a walk in the ninth inning.

Kentucky had the winning run on second with one out, but Bassinger got Devin Burkes to pop up on the infield, and after an intentional walk to Tyler Bell, struck out Lawrence to end the threat.

The Cats managed only five hits on the day.

Simon Gregersen (0-6) took the loss out of the UK bullpen despite throwing two strong innings of relief. The leadoff double surrendered to Kresser sealed his fate as Jackson Nove could not escape the jam. A passed ball by catcher Burkes and a flare sac-fly by Guzman into shallow centerfield ended the game.

Kentucky now has its back to the wall with the season on the line.

“Everyone kinda knows what’s at stake tomorrow,” Herrera said. “Just gotta move on as quick we can tonight. We had a lot of positives in this game. Just try to keep doing those the rest of the tournament. But it’s win or go home. We need to come out tomorrow and execute a little bit better, but we’re ready to go.”