West Virginia welcomed Derek Clark back from injury for the first time all season. Clark, as well as the rest of the pitching staff delivered WVU a shutout performance for the second time this year.
After dropping game two earlier Friday, the Mountaineers faced BYU in a pivotal game three of their opening Big 12 series. The Mountaineer bats didn’t deliver in the first game and they struggled again in the second, but WVU’s pitching staff picked them up, tossing a shutout for the second time in a week in a 1-0 victory.
Clark made his first appearance in a Mountaineer uniform on Friday after the start of his season was delayed due to injuries. A left-handed pitcher transfer from Northwood University, Clark started the evening by striking out the side in the first inning. Strikeouts would be Clark’s specialty, as he tallied up seven of them in his 5.0 innings pitched.
Another problem so far this season is about who comes in the back half of games out of the bullpen for the Mountaineers. Head coach Randy Mazey first turned to Robby Porco. Porco delivered a scoreless 0.2 of an inning, before Mazey gave the ball to Gavin Van Kempen. Van Kempen stranded a runner on second to end the sixth, but ran into trouble in the seventh.
The bases would be loaded against Van Kempen and Mazey went to the mound to talk with his pitcher. Mazey stuck with him and Van Kempen made Mazey’s decision pay off, getting a pop out to end the inning.
WVU’s offense got on the board in the second inning, as Kyle West singled, before advancing to second on a walk. Michael Perazza drove West in on an RBI single to put WVU on the board 1-0. That would be the only offense WVU got until the eighth inning, when they played small ball to get the job done.
Sam White singled to start the inning, before Ben Lumsden put a bunt down that somehow hit the white turf first base line and stayed fair. Then, Ellis Garcia put down a sac-bunt to advance both runners. White then scored on a sacrifice-fly from Grant Hussey when he came off the bench.
Hambleton Oliver came in to shut the door on the Cougars and would do just that. He finished the eighth inning to strand a runner on second, and then would give up a single in the ninth. Oliver then secured the series win for WVU with a scoreless ninth inning that featured two strikeouts.
In total, WVU’s pitching staff held BYU to only four hits, while registering 14 strikeouts and walking only four.
