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A steal of home proved to be the difference as the West Virginia baseball team came back from a three run deficit to beat Youngstown State on Thursday night in game one of their series at Monongalia County Ballpark.
As Victor Scott raced home, the Mountaineers (11-8) took a 5-4 lead. West Virginia would not look back, eventually scoring five unanswered runs in their 6-4 victory on Thursday.
The Mountaineers struck early at the plate with a homerun from JJ Wetherholt in the bottom of the first inning. The freshman had two hits on the night, going 2-for-3 on the evening.
Although the Mountaineers got on the board early, the Penguins (9-12) answered in the top of the second. A triple sent two runs home, then an RBI sent another runner to score for YSU, making WVU down by two.
The Mountaineers could not connect with the ball in the bottom of the second. YSU kept their momentum alive after a pitching change by WVU, who brought freshman Chris Sleeper to the mound. The Penguins scored on a wild pitch, going up three on West Virginia.
In the bottom of the third, WVU’s bats started to come alive. Austin Davis doubled to right center and advanced to third on a single from Scott. Grant Hussey’s RBI sent Davis home to close the gap between the two teams.
There was not a lot of action until the bottom of the fifth inning, where the Mountaineers decided to make some noise at the plate.
Davis walked and was brought around the bases by Wetherholt. A wild pitch from the Penguins sent Davis scoring. After Scott walked following Davis’ run, the Penguins made several pitching changes to try to stop the Mountaineers.
Now only down by one run, the Mountaineers had the bases loaded with sophomore McGwire Holbrook at the plate; Holbrook walked, advancing Wetherholt home. YSU got out of the inning on a double play.
Zach Bravo (1-0) took the mound for Sleeper in the top of the sixth and would eventually earn the win for the Mountaineers. He held YSU scoreless.
The seventh inning brought the go-ahead run for the Mountaineers when Scott stole home, giving WVU a 5-4 lead.
A sacrifice bunt by Mikey Kluska advanced Braden Barry in the bottom of the eighth, where he would make it around the bases to give the Mountaineers their final run for the night.
Back-to-back strikeouts by Trey Braithwaite (1) would close the win for the Mountaineers, making the final score 6-4.
The Mountaineers beat the Penguins by scoring five unanswered runs, and getting back on track after dropping two of three games to Campbell last weekend.
WVU takes on the Penguins for games two and three of the series in a double header on Friday, March 25. Game one is set to begin at 11 a.m., with game two set to start roughly 30 minutes after.
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