MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite enduring a nearly four-hour rain delay, the West Virginia baseball team came away victorious over Oklahoma, 9-3, Sunday at Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark, clinching the series win. The Mountaineers improve to 36-12 and 13-5 in the Big 12 while the Sooners fall to 26-22 and 10-11 in conference play.
“After a big rain delay like that, usually the team that scores first gets the momentum,” said head coach Randy Mazey. “Logan Sauve’s home run out of the break was huge for us to keep us going. During the long delay, our strength and conditioning coach Kelly Cosgrove and athletic trainer Steven Rosier really stepped up as well to keep the players ready to go.”
Freshman Logan Sauve had a double, a home run, and four RBI on the day while sophomore JJ Wetherholt hit his team-leading 13th home run of the season. Sophomore Grant Hussey also added two hits and two RBI.
The Mountaineers scored in the first inning for the fifth straight game as Wetherholt hit a solo home run the other way.
In the second, WVU loaded the bases without a hit for Sauve, who laced a double down the left-field line to bring everyone home. Graduate student Tevin Tucker followed with a double of his own to score Sauve and make it 5-0.
The Mountaineers added another run in the third as Hussey had a run-scoring double before the heavy rain came, forcing a 3-hour, 34-minute delay.
After the rain passed, Sauve tacked on WVU’s seventh run of the game as he crushed his third home run of the season to left onto University Town Center Drive.
The Sooners made it a game with three runs in the fifth, but freshman Maxx Yehl came out of the bullpen to get the final out of the inning. Yehl continued for another two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.
In the seventh, Hussey collected his second RBI of the game with a single before redshirt-senior Caleb McNeely tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly.
Redshirt-freshman David Hagaman put the finishing touches on the mound with 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out one.
The Mountaineers will be back in action on Wednesday for the third edition of the Backyard Brawl this season. First pitch from Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh is set for 6 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Discussion about this post