CHARLESTON, W.VA. – No. 15 WVU Baseball had a successful outing in Charleston at GoMart Ballpark, defeating Marshall 7-2. The game is West Virginia’s final non-conference matchup and third victory over Marshall this season. Read more: No. 15 WVU Baseball picks up 7-2 victory over Marshall in Charleston.
West Virginia and Marshall played in front of a sold-out crowd that saw plenty of support from both sides.
“This whole state rallies around our program and rallies around the university,” Sabins said in response to the overwhelming turnout of the Mountaineer faithful in the stands. “It feels like it’s the protein of the state, and so it’s really special.”
Hot Start
The Mountaineer bats were hot early, taking a 4-0 lead over the Thundering Herd after the first three innings. Gavin Kelly (10) hit back-to-back solo homers in his first two appearances, and Matt Ineich (4) hit a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the second. Matthew Graveline hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first, scoring Paul Schoenfeld.
“The whole season we’ve been playing good ball, whether it’s been hitting hard balls right at people or things just not going our way because at the end of the day, it’s baseball,” Kelly said. “It’s more so just staying the same every day and just trying to be consistent.”
Right-handed pitcher David Hagen also gave West Virginia a strong start defensively. Hagen would retire the entire order throughout the first three innings. In the first inning, he retired all three batters in seven pitches.
Hagen remains solid
In the top of the fourth, Hagen would give up his first and only run of the day when Jackson Halter hit a sacrifice fly to score Evan Bottone. Hagen would recover and end the inning, leaving two runners stranded.
Hagen would make his last appearance of the night in the fifth. It was another scoreless inning for the Thundering Herd that saw three batters up and three batters down.
“It just kind of all revolved around, like, the fastball command, just, like, attacking in the zone,” Hagen said when asked about what worked for him in today’s game. “If you make contact early in the count, I’m gonna keep throwing the fastball in there.”
Hagen finished the night, allowing only three hits and a run with one strikeout over five innings. He would be replaced by Ben McDougal in the sixth.
Answers to Marshall’s runs
Following Marshall’s run in the fourth, West Virginia would respond by scoring two more runs of its own. A sacrifice groundout from Zahir Barjam scored Sean Smith in the bottom of the fifth. Smith would then hit an RBI single to score Matt Ineich in the bottom of the sixth.
Marshall would score once again at the top of the 7th, a solo homer from Ethan Murdock. West Virginia would persist and put together a solid eighth inning that led to another run, a sacrifice fly from Schoenfeld scoring Tyrus Hall.
In the ninth inning, JT Heuther would close out the game, keeping MU scoreless and securing the victory for West Virginia. Hagen nabbed the win, increasing his record to 4-1.
What’s next?
West Virginia has six games left for the remainder of the regular season. The Mountaineers travel to face Kansas in a three-game series Friday-Sunday before returning home next weekend to finish the season against TCU.
WVU is currently second in the Big 12 Conference standings and sits four games behind Kansas for first place. The Mountaineers need to sweep Kansas in the upcoming series to have a real chance at claiming the top spot in the conference.
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