West Virginia (8-1) beat Kennesaw State in game two of a three-game series on Saturday at Mickey Dunn Stadium. Read more: No. 24 WVU wins Game 2 against Kennesaw, 9-1.
The Mountaineers leaned on their pitching, as starter Chansen Cole led the way with five strikeouts and just two hits in five innings. Reese Bassinger added two scoreless innings from the bullpen, striking out two without allowing a hit.
WVU starts hot
Amani Guzman put the Mountaineers on the board in the first with a sacrifice fly that scored Matt Ineich from third. Ineich reached on a four-pitch leadoff walk and moved to third on Gavin Kelly’s stand-up double. WVU settled for one run when Kelly was caught in no-man’s land after leaving early on a flyout.
Chansen Cole trotted out in his third start for the Mountaineers and retired the side in order. He added his first two strikeouts of the day, both from swings-and-misses.
Related: No. 24 WVU opens series against Kennesaw State with a 12-4 win
Brock Wills drew another leadoff walk in the second inning, and two batters later Ben Lumsden drove him in with an RBI single. KSU starter Ty Bayer’s day was over after that, as he lasted just 1 2/3 innings.
RHP Nolan Sliver came out in relief and issued another run after a wild pitch against his first batter. However, he managed to limit the damage after striking out Guzman.
Cole continues starting pitching excellence
Cole tossed another perfect inning in the bottom of the second, recording his third strikeout swinging.
Sliver kept the Owls within three runs in the third despite issuing back-to-back walks and a wild pitch. Cole also kept his dominant outing rolling with two more strikeouts.
Tyrus Hall led off the fourth inning with a solo shot over the left field fence. Despite the Mountaineers managing to load the bases, Sliver escaped another inning with just one run given up. Cole recorded another clean inning, however his no-hitter was spoiled after a single from James McGee.
The Mountaineers went down in order in the fifth that included Sliver’s fifth strikeout of the day. Cole worked around early trouble and tossed another scoreless frame to keep WVU up 5-0.
After a solid relief outing, Sliver was replaced by RHP Nate Helman in the sixth. Helman made quick work of the Mountaineers by retiring the side in order.
Bassinger keeps the Owls at bay
WVU also made a pitching change in the bottom of the sixth with RHP Reese Bassinger replacing Cole after another dominant outing from a West Virginia starter. The Texas native worked a quick 1-2-3 inning that was capped off with a strikeout off a nasty breaking ball.
After a leadoff flyout from Matthew Graveline, Paul Schoenfeld drew his third walk of the day. Despite reaching second off a steal, Helman capped off the inning with back-to-back K’s before any more runs could cross. Bassinger answered back with another scoreless inning and two straight K’s to close out the seventh inning.
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Helman managed to get two outs, but also allowed two on with a single from Hall and a drawn walk by Kelly. The Owls responded by bringing out Peter Jezerinac. The lefty lasted just one batter after he walked the lefty batter, Guzman.
RHP Ryan Renfroe was called upon to get the right-handed batter Graveline out. Instead, Graveline rolled a chopper to third base that was enough to reach first and score the runner from third.
After KSU turned to Ryan Gold, its third pitcher of the eighth, Schoenfeld lifted a shallow pop-up to center field that dropped in for two RBI’s. Gold managed to get the final out of the inning on the next batter, but not before WVU added three more runs to its total.
WVU closes a near-perfect game
RHP Bryant Yoak came in relief for Bassinger in the bottom of the eighth and recorded two quick outs. Cooper Williams went deep before the WV native could complete the perfect inning. Yoak bounced back and recorded the final out of the inning on the next batter.
The Mountaineers added two more runs off a two-RBI single from Guzman in the top of the ninth. David Hagen came in relief for Yoak and closed out the win for WVU.
What’s next
West Virginia will look to bring out the brooms and complete the sweep against Kennesaw State on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.
LHP Maxx Yehl is scheduled to pitch for WVU, and RHP Cole Reyer for KSU.
