West Virginia baseball held their final game ahead of Big 12 play on Tuesday and they took care of business, beating Towson, 16-5 (8 inn.) from Kendrick Family Ballpark in Morgantown.
Spencer Barnett came off the bench and hit two home runs, a solo shot in the sixth, before a grand slam in the eighth, as WVU run ruled the Tigers.
WVU got on the board early once again, scoring seven runs in the first two innings.
Four of those seven came in the first, as six of the first seven batters of the game reached base for the Mountaineers. Brodie Kresser got hit by a pitch, before Logan Sauve singled and Sam White walked to load the bases. Jace Rinehart would then ground into a fielder's choice, before a throwing error allowed Kresser and Sauve to score.
White scored on a sac-fly from Gavin Kelly, before Skylar King singled to score Rinehart and put the Mountaineers in front 4-0 after one.
In the second, it was more of the same for the Mountaineers. Grant Hussey walked to start the inning before he was pinch run for by Alex Marot. Marot advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on a groundout from Kresser. Kyle West then came off the bench to pinch hit for Sauve. West delivered with a double, plating Marot. Rinehart then walked to load the bases, before another walk to Kelly scored a run. King then reached on an error, plating another run as WVU led 7-0.
Chase Meyer got the start on the mound in what was a traditional bullpen day for WVU. Meyer worked around a hit by pitch in the first and two walks in the second, striking out three in two innings.
The next three pitchers put up a zero in the run column for WVU, before the Mountaineers ran into a little trouble in the sixth.
Bryson Hoff started the inning on the bump for WVU, as he hit the first batter he faced before giving up a single. Hoff would be replaced by Joe Fredericks who also hit the first batter he faced, before giving up a single that scored two runs for the Tigers. Fredericks then hit the next batter he faced, before Ben McDougal came to put out the fire, striking out three in the process.
WVU went into the bottom half of the inning leading 9-2, grabbing one of the two runs back in the process. Kelly singled and stole second, before advancing to third on a wild pitch. He then scored on a RBI groundout from Ben Lumsden.
The tandem of Kelly and Lumsden produced for the Mountaineers, combining for five RBIs. Kelly, a true freshman, continued his hot stretch at the plate, going 2-for-3 on the afternoon, while he stole a base, and drove in three.
Spencer Barnett hit his second home run of the year, a 369-foot blast to the opposite field, landing in the visitor's bullpen beyond the left field fence as WVU led 11-2.
The Mountaineer bullpen once again ran into trouble in the eighth, as Towson scored three runs in the inning. Two runs came on an infield single, where the Mountaineers seemed to be out of the bases loaded jam as Barnett fielded a ball to his left at shortstop and spun to make a throw, but Towson's Josh Janove just beat the throw as two runs scored and WVU led 11-5.
West Virginia got those runs back, as they too loaded the bases with no outs, before Marot walked to score Lumsden. Then, Barnett would work a long at-bat, before he hit a grand slam to right field, his second home run of the day and third of the year. That put WVU up by 11, which enforced the run rule, ending the game.
Barnett went 2-for-4 with 5 RBIs on the day, as WVU totaled 10 hits on the day.
WVU now heads into Big 12 play at 15-1 on the season, as they now head to Oklahoma State for a three-game series this weekend.
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