Over the last two games West Virginia's bullpen had allowed two runs over 18.2 innings. On Sunday, that same bullpen couldn't meet the challenge, giving up six runs in the eighth inning alone, as the Mountaineers lost game three, 11-4, dropping the series to the Wildcats.
West Virginia was six outs away from a series win, leading 4-3 entering the eighth inning. Arizona then sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning, as they were able to pull away to seal the victory.
Carson Estridge made his first start of the season for WVU on the mound, tossing a zero in the first inning before the Wildcats tagged him for a combined three runs in the second and third innings.
Adonys Guzman homered in the second, while Maddox Mihalakis hit a two-run blast in the third as Arizona took a 3-0 lead.
The Mountaineer bats were without Logan Sauve on Sunday after he exited in the fifth inning on Saturday, taking a key piece to the WVU lineup away.
Those other bats woke up in the bottom of the third as Sauve's replacement, Gavin Kelly, singled to start the inning before Sam White launched a two-run home run into the Mountaineer bullpen in right field. The home run high would prove costly for White as he would not come back into the game as he injured his shoulder celebrating.
The Mountaineers would threaten to score more in the inning, loading the bases with one out before the inning ended on a double play.
In the fourth, Grant Hussey and Armani Guzman, White's replacement, singled, setting the table for Jace Rinehart. Rinehart worked a nine-pitch at-bat, finishing it off with a two-run double down the right field line to put West Virginia in front 4-3.
The Mountaineer bullpen had been so good over the past two days and they started that way again on Sunday.
Estridge finished five innings before the bullpen pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh innings. Tyler Hutson started the eighth inning after pitching a scoreless seventh, but it was not as easy for him. Hutson got a strikeout to start the frame, before a single followed by a home run from Mason White, put the Wildcats in front 5-4. Hutson would be replaced by Bryant Yoak as an error on Chase Swain allowed the runner to reach before he walked the next batter he faced.
Jack Kartsonas was called in to try and put out the fire but he was unable to do so. He gave up a single and a double, as Arizona scored four more runs in the inning, taking a 9-4 lead.
As West Virginia's bullpen struggled, Arizona's did the exact opposite. The Wildcats did not allow a hit after the fourth inning until the eighth, but it was only a single, and nothing came from it.
Arizona added two more runs in the ninth, as Guzman hit his second home run of the game, a two-run blast to left field.
West Virginia's offense ended the day with nine total hits, with only one coming after the fourth inning.
The Mountaineers face Marshall on Tuesday before they head to face BYU on Thursday for a three-game series.
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