GRANVILLE, W.Va. — West Virginia baseball turned around from a 15-run loss on Sunday, with a 15-0 thrashing of in-state foe Marshall on Wednesday afternoon from the Kendrick Family Ballpark.
The message West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey had following WVU’s 26-11 loss on Sunday to Ohio State was during a long season, sometimes you get blown out and other times you are going to blow other teams out. West Virginia blew the Thundering Herd out behind five home runs, beating them for the second time in nine days.
WVU’s offense got going early on Wednesday, plating five runs in the first inning.
Grant Hussey got the party started with a double that snuck inside the right field line to plate the first run of the game. On the next pitch, Kyle West roped a three-run home run, his second in as many games against the Herd. Reed Chumley stepped up to the plate and followed West’s blast with one of his own, as he too, homered for the second time in as many games against Marshall as WVU led 5-0 after the first inning.
The Mountaineers put another crooked number on the board in the third inning as they displayed their power. West was hit by a pitch, before Chumley doubled to score West.
Two batters later, Morgantown native Aaron Jamison hit his second home run in as many games, scoring two more. Sam White then hit a home run which snuck over the right field wall into the WVU bullpen as West Virginia was in control 11-0 after three innings.
Gavin Van Kempen got the start for West Virginia and was able to toss three scoreless innings despite a runner reaching third in all three innings. Van Kempen’s day ended with him striking out four, allowing four hits, and walking one, but he shutout the Herd in his three innings of work.
Carson Estridge was the first out of the bullpen for the Mountaineers and he followed Van Kempen with two scoreless innings of his own, striking out two and not allowing a baserunner.
Despite putting up 11 runs in the firs three innings, WVU’s offense was not done.
Chumley hit his second home run of the game in the fourth inning, and the Mountaineers added three more in the fifth. Two of those runs in the fifth came from West, who knocked in two more on a single.
Chumley finished the day going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. West went 2-for-4 with five RBIs.
The combination of Hayden Cooper, Joseph Fredericks, Chase Meyer, and Max Yehl came in after Estridge and were able to preserve the shutout, WVU’s third of the year.
Through two games now, WVU has outscored Marshall 26-2, as the Mountaineers hit five home runs in a game for the first time since 2022.
West Virginia baseball is back in Big 12 play this weekend on the road against Oklahoma. The series starts on Friday.
