West Virginia (31-12, 16-8) rolled past Kansas State on Sunday to complete the series sweep with a dominant 13-6 win. Read more: West Virginia rolls past KSU 13-6 to complete sweep.
Carried by its offense, West Virginia scored five or more runs in two innings. The Wildcats made it interesting in the eighth, but the Mountaineers answered with six runs fueled by three home runs.
Dawson Montesa also pitched a strong four innings, allowing just one run on two hits.
Pitcher stalemate
Montesa opened the Sunday afternoon matchup with a three-up-three-down first inning. He recorded his first two strikeouts of the day, both via swing and misses.
After Matt Ineich led off the bottom half with a hit by pitch, he later scored after a wild pickoff attempt from Kansas State’s starting pitcher James Guyette.
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Montesa allowed a single in the second, but quickly recovered after two more K’s and a groundout. Brodie Kresser singled, but WVU couldn’t manage to get him across.
After two quick outs in the third, the Wildcats scored their first run in the third after Montesa walked in Shintaro Inoue. That was after he walked two batters in a row and hit Ty Smolinski to load the bases.
WVU’s offense surges
The Mountaineers regained the lead after Paul Schoenfeld doubled to deep left field to score Gavin Kelly from first.
After Montesa tossed a scoreless fourth inning, WVU’s offense exploded for five runs in the bottom half of the inning. Kresser singled in Armani Guzman, and Ineich quickly followed with a two RBI double. Sean Smith added two more runs after a throwing error scored Ineich and Schoenfeld.
Joshua Surigao replaced Montesa in the fifth, but he was shortly replaced by Carson Estridge after allowing back-to-back walks. The senior managed to record the final out of the inning to retain WVU’s 7-1 lead.
The Wildcats brought out Miles Smith in the fifth to replace James as well. He opened his relief outing with a double play and a strikeout.
Both Estridge and Smith continued their scoreless outings through the sixth and seventh innings.
However, Estridge was forced to come out in the eighth after allowing a leadoff single and a walk. Reese Bassinger came out and immediately allowed a three-run home run to Shea McGahan.
WVU blows it open
Smith was replaced by Cole Wisenbaker to start the eighth. WVU capitalized again on a KSU error, as Guzman scored on McGahan’s throwing miscue. Brock Wills added another run with a sacrifice bunt that scored Kresser.
After Adam Arther replaced Wisenbaker, Tyrus Hall smashed his third home run of the season. The solo shot travelled 419 feet.
Ineich singled in the next at-bat, and Kelly followed with a towering 425-foot home run, his eighth of the season.
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WVU’s eighth-inning surge continued as Sean Smith hit his seventh home run of the season two batters later, capping the six-run inning with the Mountaineers’ third homer of the frame.
The Wildcats managed to push two across in the ninth inning, but that was it as Bassinger managed to record the final outs of the series.
What’s next
After a strong offensive showing over the weekend, West Virginia now moves on to a weekday matchup against in-state foe Marshall.
The two squads will travel to Charleston, West Virginia, on May 5 for a 6 p.m. first pitch at GoMart Ballpark.
