After a fiery setback yesterday, West Virginia was eager to start their conference play on a positive note as they faced off against the Oklahoma State Cowboys and secured the win.
Brodie Kresser and Logan Sauve struck out in back-to-back at-bats to open the game, leaving Sam White to spark the Mountaineers’ offense with a soft line drive to right field. However, White was thrown out attempting to steal, ending the top of the first inning.
On the mound for the Mountaineers, Griffin Kirn started strong. The phenom pitcher, who entered the game with 22 strikeouts and only 15 walks on the season, wasted no time, striking out the leadoff batter. Oklahoma State’s Nolan Shubert followed with a two-out double down the first base line, but Kresser quickly saved the inning by snagging a line drive to retire the side, leaving the score tied at 0-0 as the teams moved to the second inning.
The Mountaineers found their rhythm in the second. Freshman Gavin Kelly crushed a home run over the centerfield fence for his first career long ball, giving West Virginia a 1-0 lead. Skylar King struck out, but Chase Swain walked, putting a runner on first with two outs. Kyle West then blasted a two-run home run, extending the lead to 3-0. After a groundout from Grant Hussey, Oklahoma State got out of the inning.
Griffin Kirn continued his dominance, striking out the first batter in the second inning — his third of the day, all of which came via looking strikeouts. The next batter was also struck out looking. Oklahoma State briefly came alive when Colin Ritchie homered after a review, getting the Cowboys on the board. Culbertson followed with a single, but Kirn capped off the inning with his fifth strikeout, keeping the Mountaineers in the lead, 3-1.
In the third, West Virginia’s offense stalled. Sauve and Kresser grounded out again, and White reached base on a soft grounder past shortstop, but Jace Reinhart struck out to end the inning. The Mountaineers’ defense remained flawless, retiring the Cowboys in order in the bottom of the third to keep the game 3-1.
In the fourth inning, the Cowboys quickly took control. Gavin Kelly flew out, Skylar King struck out, and Chase Swain flew out to left. Despite these quick outs, Oklahoma State surged ahead in the bottom half. Jayson Jones flew out, but Brueggemann doubled to left and Daughtery followed with a two-run home run over the left-field fence. Ritchie then launched a solo homer to right, marking his second of the game and giving the Cowboys a 4-3 lead. Kirn’s day on the mound ended, and Gavin Van Kempen came in to finish the inning, but after a walk and a strikeout, he was replaced by Bryant Yoak. Yoak struck out the final batter of the inning, but the Cowboys had seized the lead.
In the fifth, the Mountaineers started with a walk to Kyle West and a hit-by-pitch to Grant Hussey, putting runners on first and second. Brodie Kresser battled hard but struck out. Logan Sauve walked, loading the bases with one out for Sam White. Oklahoma State made the strategic decision to bring in Drew Blake to face White, and Blake walked White, tying the game at 4-4. With the bases still loaded and one out, Oklahoma State’s defense turned a double play to escape the inning.
The Cowboys came out hot in the bottom of the fifth. Jones singled and Brueggemann walked, bringing Carson Estridge in to pitch. After a flyout, Colin Ritchie walked again, keeping the bases loaded. Despite a shallow fly ball by Swain, the Mountaineers escaped without further damage.
West Virginia’s offense picked up again in the sixth inning. Kelly singled up the middle, and King walked, putting runners on first and second with no outs. Oklahoma State turned to pitcher Mario Pesca, but his first batter, Chase Swain, successfully bunted the runners to second and third with one out. Kyle West then hit a fly ball deep into left field, which was dropped by Daughtery. West Virginia scored the tying run, but King was thrown out trying to score, keeping the game locked at 5-5. Pesca’s short stint ended, and Ryan Ure entered to face Grant Hussey, striking him out to end the top of the sixth.
Oklahoma State quickly responded in the bottom of the sixth. Brayden Smith hit a solo home run to right field, putting the Cowboys back on top, 6-5. After another flyout, LaSalle hit a deep fly ball that was caught by Chase Rinehart. The home run by Smith marked the first long ball Estridge had given up this season, leading to a pitching change for the Mountaineers as Chase Meyer took over. The game was now in Oklahoma State’s hands with a 6-5 lead. Meyers managed to tally two outs in a row to get out of the sixth inning at a deficit of just one heading into the seventh.
The Mountaineers went into the seventh inning at the top of the order, and Brodie Kresser made an immediate impact as he singled to the shortstop and advanced to second base on a balk on the very next pitch. Logan Sauve kept the ball running as he hammered a line drive into centerfield to advance Kresser to third base, putting him in scoring position with no outs. It would be Sam White who tallied the first out of the inning after flying out to Center Field, but the sacrifice fly would allow Kresser to score and tie up the game at 6. This would result in an Oklahoma State pitching change to right-handed pitcher Hunter Watkins and Jace Rinehart took full advantage of this. Rinehart launched a two run home run to give the Mountaineers the 8-6 lead. The ball did not stop rolling there as Gavin Kelly was hit by the first pitch after the Rinehart home run bringing Skylar King up to the plate.King would manage to rack up his first hit of the day with a soft line drive to center field advancing Rinehart to second base. The Cowboys managed to find their way out of the inning after a miraculous catch at third base and a Kyle West groundout the Cowboys ended the half-inning allowing three runs. Chase Meyer starts the inning out in a solid position as he struck out Brueggemann, Ritchie, and the pinch hitter Shull to get the Mountaineers out of the 7th inning with their lead untouched heading into the eighth.
The Mountaineers had little to no success in the eighth as they started off the inning with a Grant Hussey single to center and a pair of strikeouts from Logan Sauve and Brodie Kresser after long and hard-fought at-bats. With two outs and hopes of scoring seemingly out the window, Sam White came up to bat and hit a grounder right through the legs of the second baseman to allow Hussey to advance to third base, putting the Mountaineers in scoring position. The Mountaineers would fail to capitalize on Oklahoma State’s critical error as Rinehart would line out to the pitcher. Chase Meyer continues to impress with his slider as he used it to strike out all three batters for the Cowboys, bringing a swift end to the eighth inning. Meyer headed into the ninth inning having struck out seven batters in two and a half innings.
The final inning of play for the Mountaineers was a crucial one; they did not have to rely on their bats but rather their defense to step up in order to win the game. The Mountaineers started off hitting, and at this point in the game, they had become ice cold from the plate as Gavin Kelly struck out and Skylar King, who had an extremely quiet day, grounded out to second. Then Chase Swain concluded his fantastic hitting performance by grounding out to the shortstop, sending the Mountaineers on defense to close out the game in a victory. That is just what they did, Schubart struck out swinging, marking Meyer’s 8th strikeout in the last three innings. After another strike out and a groundout to short stop the Mountaineers ended their one game contest against Oklahoma State with the 8-6 victory.
The Mountaineers travel back to Morgantown to face off against the James Madison Dukes on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., with hopes of keeping their winning streak alive.
