West Virginia once again leaned on the arm of Blaine Traxel, who threw his second consecutive complete game and fourth of the season, on their way to a 7-2 win against Xavier on Saturday afternoon.
Traxel picked up his fifth win of the season for the Mountaineers (18-5), going all nine innings allowing seven hits, two runs and striking out seven.
West Virginia struck first in the first inning, after JJ Wetherholt singled and stole second followed by a Dayne Leonard double to score him.
Xavier threatened in the second inning, with a single by Matt McCormick followed by a double by Carter Hendrickson that was mis-played in the corner by Landon Wallace. Wallace was able to recover and McCormick, hesitating rounding third base allowed a nice relay throw home to beat him and get WVU out of the inning.
Xavier tied the game in the top of the fourth inning on a two out, solo home run by Tyler Demartino. West Virginia would take the lead back in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run of their own by Ellis Garcia, his second of the season.
The fifth and sixth innings would go by without damage from either team, but in the top of the seventh the Musketeers once again tied the game with a solo home run, this time by Garrett Schultz.
Once again, the WVU offense responded in the bottom half of the inning. JJ Wetherholt hit a two out double, and Braden Barry singled up the middle to score Wetherholt for the second time in the game. Leonard reached on an error the next batter, and Caleb McNeely was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs but Sam White grounded out to end the inning with WVU leading 3-2
The Mountaineers took control of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with a two out rally. Landon Wallace singled, Tevin Tucker walked and JJ Wetherholt hit his sixth home run of the season to clear the bases. WVU got an insurance run on the next batter when Braden Barry hit his fifth home run of the season to give West Virginia a 7-2 lead.
Traxel worked a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the ninth to close the game out and earn his fifth win of the year.
Wetherholt had four hits in the afternoon, including a double and a home run to go with three RBI’s. Braden Barry had two hits and a walk, including a home run and two RBI’s. Dayne Leonard and Ellis Garcia had two hits and an RBI apiece.
West Virginia will be back in action on Sunday, March 26th for the series finale with Xavier at 1 p.m.
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