West Virginia baseball is set to be without JJ Wetherholt this weekend against Charlotte as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
The offense didn’t feel his loss at all though, as they exploded for 12 runs on 14 hits, and beat Charlotte, 12-8 in game one on Friday.
Wetherholt had started the first four games of the season for the Mountaineers at shortstop, and in his place Friday was Brodie Kresser. Kresser was in Wetherholt’s spot in the batting order as well as at shortstop for WVU. Kresser started the game with a single, before he along with Sam White would score on a Grant Hussey two-out, two-run double in the first inning.
Kresser wouldn’t be done as he continued to be productive with a RBI double in the third inning, and then an RBI groundout in the fourth inning. WVU’s offense would start to create separation in the fourth, as after Kresser, Sam White singled with two outs to score a run, and then Ben Lumsden doubled off the wall to plate two more as the Mountaineers were in front, 7-1.
Aidan Major got his second consecutive Friday start for WVU, and outside of the first batter of the game and a slight jam in the fifth, he was exactly what the Mountaineers needed.
Major (1-0) surrendered a leadoff home run to Thad Ector, but quickly settled in after that. Major would strike out the side in the second inning, as he finished the night with a career-high nine strikeouts.
In the fifth inning, Major gave up a single and a walk to start the inning, and gave up his second run of the game. He ended up stranding two runners in scoring position, as he won an eight-pitch battle, which would also be the last batter he faced that night. Major pitched 5.0 innings, allowing six hits, two runs, one walk, while striking out nine.
West Virginia’s bats continued to swing it well as Skylar King hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning, the first of his career, while WVU led 11-2.
That lead would be safe to an extent for West Virginia as multiple bullpen arms struggled against the 49ers.
Charlotte scored six runs in the seventh and eighth innings combined, with Luke Lyman and Tommy Beam were ineffective for the Mountaineers.
Grant Hussey hit his second home run of the season in the ninth inning, to give WVU some insurance, before West Virginia’s Maxx Yehl pitched the final 1.2 innings of the game, allowing one hit and striking out two.
King, Kresser and Lumsden each had three hits, while Hussey had two hits.
There is a doubleheader set for Saturday, with game one set for 1:00 p.m.
