Benjamin Powell COMING UP BIG - WVU's Armani Guzman has come up big during his time in Morgantown.

MORGANTOWN — Armani Guzman’s postgame celebration was memorable Monday night, fitting for a young man who has been super clutch in the NCAA tournament – both present and past – for West Virginia.

His base hit had just won the game in the 10th inning against Kentucky. He was introducing to the entire sports world his musical talents by singing “Take Me Home Country Roads,” while being interviewed live by ESPN.

“That was really cool,” he said. “They were blaring it in my ear, so I got an expedited version of Country Roads. That was something special.”

At some point during the postgame chaos, Guzman had his moment with WVU head coach Steve Sabins. It was just three years ago when Sabins brought the New York native – Guzman played his high school ball in Georgia – to WVU as a projected shortstop.

“Guzzi told me he loves me,” Sabins smiled, as he relayed the story in the postgame press conference. “Now that’s out there. It happened in the moment, you can’t take it back.”

Guzman quickly followed with a smile: “I kind of regret it now.”

His career at WVU is best described as the ultimate utility guy. Guzman has made home-run saving grabs in the outfield and diving stops at both third and first base. He never played shortstop, something he reminds Sabins nearly every day.

“Ever since I got here, I always wanted to be the man. I always wanted to be the guy,” Guzman said.

That hasn’t shown up as much as it has during NCAA tournament time. A year ago, down in Clemson, Guzman was playing third base for the first time and lighting up the scoreboard with his bat.

He finished 8 for 12 with six RBIs in that regional. He led WVU past Kentucky with a game-winning sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to win the opener and then came back and went 4 for 5 against the Wildcats in the regional championship game.

For his efforts, Guzman was named the MVP.

Guzman nearly pulled off the MVP feat two years in a row. He exited the Morgantown Regional this season going 10 for 22 with seven RBIs and six stolen bases, but the honor instead went to teammate Gavin Kelly.

“Wait a minute, you got it?” Guzman joked, as he leaned toward Kelly.

There’s no mistake on the impact Guzman had at WVU this season. It was a slow start to the season. By the middle of March, his batting average was .232. He enters the super regionals at .308 and is the Big 12 leader in stolen bases with 36.

And his ability to play multiple positions might be Guzman’s biggest impact. Last season, his home-run saving catch against Ohio State made the SportsCenter Top 10 highlights of the day. He only played third base last season when Sabins out-of-the-blue asked him if he could do it.

What was Guzman going to say? No? He’s done just about everything else at WVU.

“He likes the moment and he loves to win,” Sabins said. “He’s probably the best athlete in the country and that doesn’t hurt him, either. I love his mentality. We talk about players who elevate in certain situations. Armani is one of those guys.”