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MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — On Friday night, West Virginia had two base running blunders which cost them mightily. On Saturday afternoon, the Mountaineers did not let their previous downfall deter them in any way.
As Austin Davis stole one of West Virginia’s (22-11, 6-2 Big 12) seven stolen bases on the day, Davis pushed the Oklahoma State third baseman after he took exception to the way he was tagged. Davis, who was thrown out last night trying to steal late in the game, slid head first into third and appeared to have come off the base. After a lengthy discussion and a review, Davis was called safe. On the next pitch, McGwire Holbrook hit a sharp ground ball to the pitcher, making Davis retreat towards third. Davis then sprinted home, scoring with another head first slide.
“You don’t ever want to direct your stuff to the other team, but in a game like this when your team need to see you fight like that, I loved the way AD (Davis) played today,” West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey said. “AD was phenomenal today.”
This was the brand of baseball the Mountaineers played all day, as No. 24 West Virginia defeated No. 3 Oklahoma State 5-2 in game two of the three-game series.
Holbrook shared that same sentiment, saying when Davis scored, he was surprised by it.
“AD (Davis) is really fast. I wasn’t surprised by it at all. I didn’t expect it off the bat for him to do something like that,” Holbrook said of Davis.
Things got going early for West Virginia with two home runs within the first three innings. It was Nathan Blasick who got the show started for the Mountaineers in the second, hitting a fly ball that was destined for just beyond the right-center field wall.
In the third, it was Holbrook’s turn — as he hammered a 3-2 fastball just above his letters 407 feet to left field, clearing the Oklahoma State (25-10, 8-3 Big 12) bullpen and finishing it off with a bat flip that spoke of the high tension in this series.
“I wasn’t really looking for anything. I was seeing his slider and fastball both pretty good and he threw me a fastball up, and I’m usually pretty good at hitting fastballs up in the zone, so I saw it out of his hand and just drove it,” Holbrook said.
With the Mountaineers ahead 3-0, sophomore left-handed pitcher Ben Hampton was able to settle in against a strong Oklahoma State lineup. After giving up a leadoff single to start the game, Hampton (6-2) retired 11 straight batters before running into trouble in the fourth.
With two outs, Hampton walked Griffin Doersching who then advanced to second on a wild pitch, before coming home to score on an RBI single from David Mendham. The Cowboys were not done, loading the bases with two outs, and forcing Mazey to come talk to his young lefty.
“They kind of know when I come to the mound, I don’t talk a whole lot,” Mazey said. “Ben just needed the old basketball timeout when the other team has some momentum. We just needed to stop the momentum and let him take a deep breath, and he came back and got a big out after that.”
That big out was all up to Hampton, getting Oklahoma State’s Chase Adkinson to hit it right back at him, as he jogged to first to record the third out.
In the fifth, it was Hampton running into trouble again. Hampton got a quick out, but then hit a batter and allowed a double, but was able to bend and not break to only allow one run.
Hampton would finish his day, throwing 5.1 innings, striking out five, and allowing two runs on four hits.
Following Hampton, came a bullpen which has stepped up since the start of Big 12 play. Mazey said he knows the guys he can trust, and they continue to go a good job.
“Your top ten pitchers at this point are usually your top ten pitchers,” Mazey said. “The guys that we’re running out there now… they’ve been really solid out of the [bullpen] when we really needed them to be.”
That bullpen was solid again on Saturday, with Mazey turning to Noah Short first, who threw 1.2 innings, and did not allow a baserunner. Short came in with a runner on second, but was able to get a double play, with the credit again going to Davis.
Davis dove on a line drive hit to right field, catching it, and throwing it to second to double-up the runner, before again showing emotion as he went to the dugout.
Braithwaite slammed the door just as he has done since conference play began, allowing one hit in the final two innings, while getting a flyout to Victor Scott to seal the victory.
Record Broken
Victor Scott set two stolen base record on Saturday. Scott stole four bases on the day, and set the single-season record with 30 stolen bases so far this year, as well as 115 on his career, breaking the previous record. Scott, Davis, and Tevin Tucker were the three responsible for West Virginia’s seven steals this afternoon.
First Place Rubber Match
Oklahoma State and West Virginia are first and second respectively in the Big 12 standings. The Mountaineers sit at 6-2 in conference play, while the Cowboys are 8-3. The third game of the series will decide first place in the Big 12, as these two teams are set to play on Sunday at 1 p.m.
