West Virginia took on Kansas State on Sunday afternoon in the third game of a three game series, with each team winning one of the first two. The Mountaineers offense was able to bounce back after scoring only one run on Saturday, to take the game and series from Kansas State.
The Mountaineers (20-7, 2-1) offense produced 13 hits, including three home runs in the afternoon, by Grant Hussey, Braden Barry and Caleb McNeely. Five different Mountaineers recorded multiple hits in the game as well.
West Virginia scored runs in five straight innings, from the second inning to the fifth in a sustained offensive effort.
WVU struck first in the top of the second inning, when McNeely reached on an error and advanced to third, Landon Wallace walked and Kevin Dowdell hit a sacrifice fly to bring home McNeely. Grant Hussey would homer in the next at-bat and give West Virginia an early 3-0 lead.
Kansas State responded in the bottom half of the inning after a walk and two straight singles scored Kaelen Culpepper. Robert Pena homered two batters later to clear the bases and give K-State a 4-3 lead after two innings.
JJ Wetherholt led off the top of the third with a double, and Braden Barry took a pitch deep to center field to give WVU the lead back. A two out walk in the bottom half of the inning ended Grant Siegel’s day on the mound, going 2.2 innings, allowing three hits, four runs and striking out one.
The Mountaineers started the top of the fourth the same way they did the third, with a lead-off double, this time by Grant Hussey. Tevin Tucker bunted and after a review was called safe to give WVU runners on first and third with no one out. Wetherholt hit a sacrifice fly to score Hussey, but that was all West Virginia would get in the inning.
Kansas State threatened in the bottom half of the inning, getting runners on first and second with one out, but grounded into a double-play to end the inning.
The top of the fifth started like the previous two innings, with a West Virginia extra base hit. This time it was Caleb McNeely, who hit one over the right field fence to extend the WVU lead to 7-4.
The sixth through eighth innings saw neither team score a run, but West Virginia added onto their lead in the top of the ninth. Three straight singles to start the inning by Tevin Tucker, JJ Wetherholt and Braden Barry scored a run, then Caleb McNeely was intentionally walked to load the bases for Landon Wallace, who hit a two RBI single but McNeely was thrown out at home to end the inning.
A lead-off walk in the bottom of the ninth led to Roberto Pena’s second home run of the day to cut WVU’s lead to 10-6. Brendan Jones hit a single in the next at-bat, but Jake Carr ended the Wildcats threat to seal the victory.
The West Virginia bull-pen combined to 6.1 innings, giving up four hits and only two runs to hold onto the lead.
The Mountaineers will be back in action on Wednesday, April 5th, to take on Marshall for the second time this season at 6 p.m.
