The only issues were the weather for West Virginia baseball, as they took care of Canisius in their home opener, winning 10-3 on Wednesday afternoon.
For the first time in 2024, the Mountaineers took the field at Monongalia County Ballpark. They certainly enjoyed the home cooking, as their offense scored 10 runs, on nine walks and eight hits.
West Virginia scored in six of the eight innings they came to the plate, including scoring nine runs over the first five innings. The Mountaineers were still without JJ Wetherholt for the fifth consecutive game, but that didn’t seem to matter to the WVU offense.
Logan Sauve walked in the first inning, before Ellis Garcia scored him on a bunt, putting WVU in front 1-0. A walk would start the rally again in the second inning for the Mountaineers, as Reed Chumley walked before Skylar King singled to bring him home.
Canisius would respond in the third inning as Carlin Dick hit a two-run home run, tying the game at 2-2. WVU would quickly answer their response though, as Reed Chumley tripled to score two runs for the Mountaineers, and they never looked back from there.
Ben Lumsden singled to plate a run in the fourth, while Garcia scored a run on a bunt. WVU scored three in the fifth as Sauve hit a fly ball to right field where it would be dropped, scoring two, before Sam White singled to score one more and WVU’s lead was up to 9-2.
On the mound, West Virginia turned to sophomore Gavin Van Kempen. Van Kempen pitched 4.0 innings, giving up two runs on two hits, while he walked three and struck out four.
In total, WVU used five pitchers, with the Mountaineer bullpen being up to the task, as they gave up no runs and two hits, while striking out seven across 5.0 innings.
Garcia led WVU with two hits, and he was the only Mountaineer to get at least two hits.
WVU heads to Western Kentucky for a four-game series this weekend.
Photo by Tyler Prusina
