After their opening series against Stetson, it is clear to see that West Virginia has benefited from the transfer portal.
In their first game, which they won, the Mountaineers had three transfers in the starting lineup, Ben Lumsden, Kyle West and Reed Chumley, with transfer from Baylor Hambleton Oliver earning the win in relief. Oliver pitched 2.1 innings, allowed no hits and didn’t walk a batter, striking out three in the win.
Lumsden was huge in the win offensively. He hit two home runs, while also picking up a single on Friday. The Sophomore transfer from UT Arlington, had three more hits in the rest of the series while picking up an RBI and a crucial run scored in WVU’s victory Monday.
“Ben Lumsden had a really good weekend. Got some results, but better than the results he was calm and collected and never got rattled, never got sped up, which was really encouraging to see,” head coach Randy Mazey said Wednesday. “He’s got a great feel for the game. [He] played infield last year at his previous school and we’ve been playing him in the outfield and played really good in the outfield. And he hit a couple of big homers for us. So, he was definitely a bright spot.”
Kresser, who spent his last two seasons at Des Moines Area Community College, also played well for the Mountaineers in their opening series. He had three hits, one of which was a homer, totaling three RBIs. Kresser led off for WVU on Monday while supposed to be playing center, but moved to shortstop when JJ Wetherholt exited the game with an injury after the top half of the first.
“Brodie Kresser had a pretty good weekend. He’s been jumping back and forth from infield to outfield. And he actually hit in the leadoff spot on Monday ahead of JJ. So, that’s something we had been looking at,” Mazey said. “Those two guys (Lumsden and Kresser) were really encouraging.”
On top of hitters, West Virginia had some transfer pitchers have an impact, aside from Oliver.
Gardner-Webb transfer Tyler Switalski started for the Mountaineers on Saturday, pitching five innings allowing two runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out two.
Hayden Cooper, transfer from SIU Edwardsville got the ball for WVU’s first game of the doubleheader Monday. In four innings of work, he allowed three earned runs on five hits and two walks and threw one wild pitch.
Mazey also has a certain philosophy when dealing with transfer players and welcoming them into his program as well as building relationships with all his player.
“I’m a relationship guy and when you’re at practice it’s hard to hard to get to know them as much because you’re always trying to teach them how to hit the darn ball and catch the ball but when you have a chance to be with them in those non-practice moments that’s when you build chemistry and relationships and bonding,” Mazey said. “Since the portal came along team chemistry and camaraderie has been our number one goal. And that was a great weekend we had an entire day off down there on Sunday I believe it was, because of the rain. And the new guys in the program kind of know what it’s like now.”
West Virginia will travel to Charlotte to play a four-game series with the 49ers in their next game-action starting on Friday, with a doubleheader on Saturday, looking to build off a split opening series with Stetson.
Photo courtesy of WVU Athletics
