On Sunday, Xavier used the home run ball to avoid being swept by West Virginia, as the Musketeers scored seven of their eight runs on long balls to take West Virginia out of the game.
“Solo homers don’t beat you, but letting guys on for free before the homers is what beats you,” head coach Randy Mazey said after the loss.
The West Virginia offense would get on the board early in the attempted sweep over Xavier, as a Dayne Leonard single to center field scored Braden Barry, who walked earlier in the frame.
Despite grabbing early momentum in front of the home crowd, the Mountaineers would quickly lose ground, as WVU starting pitcher Grant Siegel didn’t have his best stuff going in the top half of the second inning. In the frame, the Tulane transfer surrendered four runs by hitting the first two Xavier batters, walking the next one, and giving up a back-breaking grand slam to second baseman Jared Cushing.
Noah Short would have to relieve Siegel before the second inning concluded, as the sophomore finished with a line of 1.1 innings pitched, two hits, two walks, four earned runs, and four strikeouts.
Down 4-1, the Mountaineers started their quest to chip away at the Xavier lead in the bottom half of the third inning. Leonard started the inning off with his second single of the afternoon, and a Sam White walk put a runner in scoring position. Next up was Ellis Garcia, and the third baseman came through with a single to center field, cutting the Xavier lead in half at 4-2.
Xavier punched right back in the top half of the fourth inning, as left fielder Andrew Walker took a Robby Porco pitch deep to right field over the West Virginia bullpen for a two-run homer, extending the Musketeer lead to 6-2.
In the bottom of the fourth, Leonard would strike again, as the Mountaineer designated hitter would drive in JJ Wetherholt from second base on his third single of the day, cutting the lead to 6-3.
WVU reliever Maxx Yehl came in during the top of the fifth inning and made quick work of Xavier, retiring the side after three batters faced.
West Virginia would need to keep scoring in the middle innings to climb out of the hole Xavier had put them in, but a Tevin Tucker strikeout with men on second and third base with two outs kept the Mountaineers at bay.
Xavier added to its lead in the top of the sixth after catcher Matthew Deprey executed a sacrifice bunt, scoring Jack Housinger, making it a 7-3 ballgame.
The bottom of the sixth inning was looking promising for the WVU offense, as Braden Barry singled and Leonard followed the single by getting hit with a pitch. Despite the traffic on base with only one out, West Virginia would fail to push those runners across, as Barry was picked off of second base and Caleb McNeely grounded out into a fielder’s choice.
After a scoreless seventh inning, Xavier put another ball over the fence, as Cushing, who had previously delivered a crowd-silencing grand slam in the second inning, left the yard again with a no-doubt solo home run to left-center field. In the home half of the eighth, Wetherholt walked with two outs and got himself into scoring position with his 22nd steal of the season. Barry followed the Wetherholt walk with a free pass of his own, but Leonard grounded out into a fielder’s choice to keep the score at 8-3 going into the ninth inning.
Xavier brought out Clay Schwaner to close out the game, and despite a walk to Ellis Garcia, Schwaner closed the door on the Mountaineers, as Xavier went on to win by the score of 8-3.
While WVU dropped the series finale to Xavier, the Mountaineers are playing well, as they possess an 18-6 record on the season. With only a mid-week matchup with Marshall standing in the way of the Mountaineers and Big 12 conference play, head coach Randy Mazey likes where his ground stands.
“You can’t help but like where we (West Virginia) are at right now, ” Mazey said after the loss. “I would take where we’re at right now 100 times out of 100. With our starting pitching, we have a chance to win every series that we play the rest of the season.”
