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On Saturday, WVU clinched a series victory against Baylor, defeating the Bears 8-4 in a game that saw wind, rain, hail, and some snow.
The WVU bats came alive in the sixth and seventh innings and the team also had a sound afternoon defensively.
The star of the afternoon was WVU starting pitcher Ben Hampton. Hampton gave Randy Mazey a long, strong performance, as he threw 7.2 innings, striking out five batters and giving up just two earned runs.
In the first inning, Baylor started things off with a double down the right field line by Jack Pineda. Pineda stole third base after avoiding a sure tag at third base. The Bears grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Jared McKenzie singled in Pineda.
WVU had an answer in the bottom of the first inning, as the Mountaineers started the inning with three straight singles. Victor Scott singled Austin Davis in to tie the game at 1-1. WVU took a 2-1 lead when McGwire Holbrook brought JJ Wetherholt home on an RBI sacrifice-fly.
After the first inning, both starting pitchers settled in. After giving up a run in the first inning, WVU’s Ben Hampton retired the next 11 batters, which allowed him to cruise into the middle innings.
On the other side, Baylor’s starting pitcher Kobe Andrade got in a groove. After giving up three hits and two runs in the first inning, Andrade retired 12 straight batters leading up to the sixth inning.
In the top of the sixth, Baylor tied things up at 2-2 when Jared McKenzie hit a home run into the right-field dugout.
In the bottom of the sixth, WVU started to figure Andrade out. Austin Davis started the inning with a single up the middle, and JJ Wetherholt followed with a single up the middle of his own. WVU reclaimed the lead when Victor Scott doubled to drive in both Davis and Wetherholt and give the Mountaineers a 4-2 lead. WVU extended its lead to 5-2 when Braden Barry laid down a bunt to score Victor Scott.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, WVU put three more runs across the board. The Mountaineers made it 6-2 when Victor Scott hit a sacrifice fly to score Tevin Tucker, and that was followed by a two-run single by McGwire Holbrook to extend the lead to 8-2.
Neither team scored in the eighth inning, which led to Baylor having one more shot in the top of the ninth inning.
Baylor started the ninth with a Kyle Nevin single that was misplayed in the outfield, so Nevin took second base. Jared McKenzie drove in his third run of the game when he singled and brought Nevin home to make it an 8-3 game.
The Bears scored another run on a bases-loaded RBI groundout by Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo to make it 8-4, but WVU’s Zach Ottinger came in and shut the door for the Mountaineers. WVU won by a final score of 8-4 and clinched the series victory against the Bears.
WVU starting pitcher Ben Hampton spoke on the early success in Big 12 play.
“I think it’s always fun to prove people wrong, but I think we’re just taking it one game at a time,” Hampton said. “I think when you start to look in the long run, that’s when you start to not play in the moment, and I think that’s what we do best, is taking it one pitch at a time.”
West Virginia now improves to 19-10 on the season and 4-1 in conference play. The Mountaineers will be back in action on Sunday as they attempt to sweep the Bears. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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