After an 8th-inning rally by the Wildcats, the West Virginia Mountaineers lost 11-4 to close out their home series against Arizona.
The game started scoreless after one inning, but Adonys Guzman tallied his 7th home-run on the season, putting the Wildcats up 1-0 on the Mountaineers, keeping them scoreless after two full innings of play. The Wildcats continued their hot streak on the bats as Maddox Mihalakis hit a two-run home run over the right-field fence on a two-out rally. Besides allowing two home runs in three innings of play, West Virginia pitcher Carson Estridge excelled, tallying 6 strikeouts in just three innings averaging two an inning.
The Mountaineers were down 2-0 going into the bottom of the third inning, and with Arizona having the hot hand on the offensive side of the ball, the Mountaineers needed their bats to start to excel. Their prayers were answered as Sam White obliterated a two-run home run over the right field fence tying the game at two a piece and bringing the Mountaineers back into the ball game. This momentum followed the Mountaineers to the fourth inning where Grant Hussey and Armani Guzman made it on base setting up a Jace Reinhart double that scored both Hussey and Guzman to give the Mountaineers a 4-2 lead inside Kendrick Family Ballpark.
From that inning forward, both defenses were solid, keeping each other scoreless for four straight innings until the 8th inning, the inning the Wildcats ran away with the victory. Mason White started the 8th-inning rally for the Wildcats, cashing in on a two-run home run. Then Mountaineer pitcher Jack Kartsonas threw a wild pitch past Catcher Logan Sauve and batter Andrew Cain, which allowed Adonys Guzman and Mihalakis to advance to second and third and Caulfield to score.
Andrew Cain rifled off a double off of the next pitch to score both Guzman and Mihalakis. Tj Adams came up to bat and doubled to right center field to send Cain in to score to close out the Wildcat’s offensive half inning scoring a total of six runs to put the Wildcats up 9-4 heading into the top of the ninth and final inning.
This would be the Mountaineer’s last chance to hold off any sort of offensive momentum imposed by Arizona, but at the end of the day they were unable to execute on the defensive side of the ball. Adonys Guzman who homered in his first at bat of the game, hit a two run home run at the top of the ninth to extinguish the hope of a come back entirely. After a scoreless ninth inning by the Mountaineers the game would go final, with a final score of 11-4.
The Mountaineers lost the series to Arizona, marking their first series loss of the season. West Virginia looks to bounce back from defeat and get themselves back in the winning column as they are set to take on the Marshall Thundering Herd on Tuesday at home. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
