MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia won the Baylor series in workmanlike fashion with a 5-2 win on a lovely day at Kendrick Family Ballpark. The crowd of 4,223 was the fifth-largest home attendance in Mountaineer history.
The fans witnessed a solid showing of fundamental baseball from WVU, which got another ironman pitching performance from Derek Clark, who was supported by several sterling plays behind him. Clark threw 127 pitches, which is becoming a routine outing for him, and held the Bears to two runs over eight innings. Clark allowed five hits and walked three, but struck out eight. He stranded seven runners over the first four innings, but then faced just one batter over the minimum over his final four frames.
The Mountaineers (25-16, 13-7) gave Clark an early lead on Kyle West's solo home run into the WVU bullpen in the second, but Baylor tied in in the fourth on an RBI single. West Virginia then manufactured three runs in the fifth, with a walk, a double, a hit batter and a pair of groundouts pushing across the tallies.Â
Brodie Kresser added an insurance run on a safety squeeze in the seventh, which offset a Baylor solo home run one inning later.
The Bears made it interesting in the ninth, putting two runners aboard against WVU reliever Carson Estridge with two out, but Maxx Yehl got the final out with a hand from JJ Wetherholt, who ranged to his right and gloved a soft liner just above the grass to end the contest. It took a replay to uphold the call, which did lead to a couple of anxious moments.Â
"You never know how those are going to go," head coach Randy Mazey said. "The thing I didn't like was it took a long time for (the umpires) to review it, and sometimes you think they are looking for a reason to overturn it."
Reed Chumley was 2-4 with a double and a run scored, and West was 2-2 with three runs and an RBI. Clark earned the win, moving to 5-1 on the season, while Yehl notched his second save. Collin McKinney allowed the first two of WVU's five runs, and was tabbed with the loss, which dropped him to 3-5 on the year.
WVU will go for a sweep against the Bears (19-22, 9-11) on Sunday, with first pitch set for 11 a.m. Aidan Major (3-3, 5.30 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) gets the ball for the Mountaineers.
SEAMS AND BARRELS
Each team left seven batters on through the first four innings.
- -- -- --
WVU scored three runs on grounders/bunts, and a fourth on a wild pitch. The Mountaineers were 0-13 with runners in scoring position, as outs were made on all of the scores other than West's homer.
- -- -- -- -
The win was WVU's ninth consecutive win over the Bears.
- -- -- -- -
Clark equaled his WVU career high with 127 pitches (Oklahoma). He also has a pair of 123 pitch outings and a 117 pitch showing this year.
West Virginia pitcher Derek Clark describes his rehab and throwing process, and how it has allowed him to go deep into many of his starts this year.
by Kevin Kinder
BlueGoldNews.com
West Virginia infielder Reed Chumley notes his decision to transfer to WVU was the best of his life, and shared insight on playing alongside JJ Wetherholt in the field
by Kevin Kinder
BlueGoldNews.com
West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey shares his positive reviews of the transfer portal and its effect on winning baseball in the college game
by Kevin Kinder
BlueGoldNews.com
You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
Post a comment as Anonymous Commenter
Report
Watch this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.