After trailing closely the entire game, the Mountaineers fell to Kansas State on Friday, 4-3 at home.
The loss, which kicked off WVU’s final series at home of the regular season, dropped the Mountaineers to 29-19 on the season and 15-10 in-conference. Kansas State improved to the same overall record and is now 13-12 in Big 12 matchups.
Coach Randy Mazey opened the final home series of his career with senior Hayden Cooper at the mound. Cooper pitched 38.1 innings in 13 games before Friday and recorded a win against Pitt.
Cooper pitched well, holding the Wildcats to six hits and three runs in six innings at the mound. He walked two batters, hit one, and struck out six. Cooper allowed a run by Brendan Jones off Brady Day’s RBI single in the first inning but made up for it in the second, pitching a strikeout and forcing three outs in three Wildcat batters. Cooper is now 1-3 with the loss.
2023 All-Big 12 second team selection Owen Boerema pitched for Kansas State. He allowed five hits, three runs, and two walks in seven innings. He also hit two batters with the pitch and recorded eight strikeouts, including three on Kyle West, who has WVU’s third highest batting average this year.
After Kansas State’s first-inning run, West Virginia matched it in the second inning with a Grant Hussey run off of a Skylar King RBI. Boerema matched Cooper’s second inning in the third, forcing WVU to go three up and three down to keep the newly-acquired 2-1 Wildcat lead.
Both teams were silent from the plate in the fourth and fifth inning but did the opposite in the two that followed. Each team scored one run in the sixth inning and one in the seventh, with the highlight for the Mountaineers being Reed Chumley’s sixth-inning homer. The home run was Chumley’s 14th of the season, tying him for the fifth most in the Big 12.
Armani Guzman scored the third and final run for the Mountaineers after replacing Ben Lumsden as the runner. Lumsden was hit in the elbow by a pitch, causing Guzman to fill in at first and Aaron Jamison to sub in at centerfield. JJ Wetherholt hit to right field for the RBI single that sent Guzman home.
Mazey had sophomore Robby Porco relieve Cooper of his duties for the seventh inning, where Kansas State scored its final run, once again caused by a Brady Day RBI single that sent Brendan Jones home. Porco was replaced by Oliver Hambleton after allowing one hit, one run, and one walkand pitching one strikeout in the seventh inning.
Hambleton held the Wildcats scoreless in his two innings at the mound. He allowed one hit and one walk and hit one batter. Kansas State also used two pitchers after relieving Boerema of his duties, those being Blake Dean and Tyson Neighbors. Like, Hambleton, the pair did not allow any runs in the game’s last two innings.
Dean, who is sixth best in allowed hits and allowed earned runs in the conference, allowed one hit and pitched two strikeouts in the eighth inning. Neighbors secured two strikeouts in the crucial ninth inning, preventing the Mountaineers from tying or taking the game. Jamison and King struck out in the final inning before Logan Sauve flied out to give Kansas State the win.
West Virginia will look to bounce back and tie the series on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Morgantown. The start time is different from the initially planned 4 p.m. start, which was announced as changed today.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
