West Virginia took home the opener of the Tucson Regional on Friday, and it did it against 44-win offensive powerhouse Dallas Baptist.
Dallas Baptist entered the game with a reputation for scoring runs, having averaged 7.87 runs per contest on its run to the Conference USA title. Against WVU senior Derek Clark, though, the Patriots scored just one, falling 4-1.
Clark pitched all nine innings for West Virginia, allowing DBU’s only run in the eighth. He finished with eight strikeouts and allowed four runs. Clark hit two batters and walked none.
Junior Nathan Humphreys scored the lone run on Clark, as he was hit by the pitch to make his only appearance on base in the game. Senior Alex Pendergast, who had two of DBU’s four hits, doubled to left to put Humphreys in scoring position, and he did so as Luke Heefner flied out to Ben Lumsden in right field.
Offensively, sophomore catcher Logan Sauve was the biggest name for the Mountaineers. Sauve played a part in all four of WVU’s runs in the game, finishing with two hits, three RBIs, and two runs.
In the third inning, Sauve slammed a homer right up the middle of the field to send Ben Lumsden, Skylar King, and himself home. The home run stands as the first and only one of the Tucson Regional thus far.
Sauve scored his second run in the sixth inning after singling midway through the outfield and in left center. Sam White fired a low shot to right field to advance him before Reed Chumley emulated Sauve’s hit for a double, sending Sauve home for West Virginia’s fourth and final run of the game.
West Virginia saw three pitchers and finished with eight hits, six of which came off the slider-heavy pitching of Conference USA Pitcher of the Year Ryan Johnson. Johnson pitched 6.1 innings and allowed all four WVU runs to fall to a season record of 11-3.
With the win over Dallas Baptist, the third-seeded Mountaineers advance to the Tucson Region quarterfinals, where they will play the winner of Arizona and Grand Canyon, who play at 9 p.m. on ESPN+. The quarterfinal game will take place on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET.
