West Virginia overshadowed Friday’s loss in dominant fashion Saturday night, winning 13-0 in the second of three home games against Kansas State.
The shift in the series felt immediately obvious Saturday night, which began with a graduation commencement on the field for seniors Hambleton Oliver, Hayden Cooper, Reed Chumley, and Derek Clark. Coach Randy Mazey gave Clark the start at the mound, and he shined early, earning two strikeouts and successfully picking off the only Kansas State runner in inning one.
Clark quickly turned that success into a trend for the entire game, in which he struck out 10 batters, walked two, and hit one with the pitch in seven innings. Even a 30-minute weather delay in the top of the fourth inning could not turn Clark off, as the new graduate recorded a 2.86 ERA and held the Wildcats scoreless to improve his record to 5-2.
Saturday’s thunderstorm benefited more than just Clark and the Mountaineers, though, as the delay also failed to impact Kansas State pitcher Jackson Wentworth. After returning to the game in the fourth, no Mountaineer got on base for two straight innings, as West Virginia recorded just one hit from the fourth inning to the sixth.
Just before the delay, though, WVU got scoring in where it could. With two outs, West Virginia put its first runner on base in the third inning, as Skylar King was walked. Back at the top of the order, catcher Logan Sauve made sure to advance him with a single, WVU’s first hit of the game.
With the momentum in West Virginia’s favor, Wentworth continued to struggle, as he walked JJ Wetherholt to load the bases, putting Sam White in perfect RBI position. White singled to right center to advance all other runners two bases and put WVU up for the first time in the series, 2-0. White stole second base, freeing Wetherholt to steal home, and both were successful thanks to a throwing error by Brady Day, putting WVU up 3-0 before Chumley’s strikeout ended the inning.
After the delay, Wentworth took about the same amount of time to give up a run, but thanks to Clark’s pitching, WVU never lost momentum. That only picked up in the sixth inning when Wetherholt watched two balls then slammed his fifth home run of the season right up center field for WVU’s fourth run and fourth hit of the game.
Kansas State could not pick up the runs at the plate, as Chumley caught Kaelen Culpepper’s popped foul toward third before two Clark strikeouts. After Wetherholt’s home run, though, more Mountaineers wanted in on the action and packed the bottom of the seventh with scoring.
Ben Lumsden got the run started, crushing a ground ball to first baseman David Bishop, who bobbled it to allow the single. Lumsden then stole second base, as Raphael Pelletier’s throw went high over the bag after the pitch.
Armani Guzman replaced Lumsden for the second game in a row after his steal. Ellis Garcia watched four balls to double the WVU runners and force Kansas State’s first pitching change, which saw Adam Arther enter for Wentworth.
Arther pitched four pitches, the fourth being a sacrifice bunt by Skylar King, who Arther threw out before being replaced by Ty Ruhl. Ruhl walked Logan Sauve to load the bases, then JJ Wetherholt brought Guzman home with a hard single to the right of second base. Culpepper bobbled it and threw an error to allow WVU’s sixth run, unearned by Perazza, who pinch ran for Garcia.
Three pitches later, Sam White took his chance for more RBIs, which came this time in the form of a three-run homer to right field. Ruhl struck out Chumley to end the inning afterwards, but the damage was already done, as WVU now led 9-0.
Joseph Fredericks entered for Clark in the eighth inning. He threw a hit and a strikeout to bring the Mountaineers back to the plate for a four-run inning, led by King’s RBI to second base and Sauve’s three-run homer, earned after a 1-2 count that saw him hit four foul balls.
The Sauve home run was the last hit of the game, which ended 13-0. Luke Lyman entered in the ninth inning for WVU and pitched a strikeout and allowed no runners on.
West Virginia will look to carry the Saturday night momentum to the final game of the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will end Randy Mazey’s final home series as head coach and may be West Virginia’s last home game of the season. It will be available live on Big 12 NOW with ESPN+.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
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