West Virginia baseball beats Liberty, 7-0

With one out in the top of the first inning, Liberty got a runner on base thanks to a fielding error, but freshman right-hander Tyler Strechay, who was making his fourth start of the season, retired the next two batters to end the top half of the first.

The Mountaineers stranded two runners on base in the bottom of the first, but after Strechay pitched a scoreless second, West Virginia went ahead by a score of 3-0 after two innings thanks to an RBI single from Braden Zarbnisky, a bases-loaded walk and sacrifice fly from Tyler Doanes.

After retiring the first two batters in the top of the third, Liberty loaded the bases with two walks and a single, but a fly out got Strechay out of the jam.

West Virginia got a couple runners on base with two outs, but like Liberty, a fly out ended the inning for the Mountaineers.

After Strechay retired Liberty in order in the fourth and fifth innings, the Mountaineers added to their lead with a two-run RBI single from Matt McCormick scoring Kevin Brophy and Vince Ippoliti to make it 5-0.

Strechay's day was finished with two outs in the top of the sixth and he finished the afternoon with two hits allowed, no earned runs, four walks and three strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched. Skylar Gonzalez replaced him on the mound and recorded the final out of the inning.

A double play ended the bottom of the sixth for West Virginia and right-hander Dillon Meadows went on to pitch a scoreless seventh inning for the Mountaineers.

In the top of the eighth, Madison Jeffrey replaced Meadows on the mound and gave up a leadoff double, but the sophomore retired three straight batters to end the inning.

West Virginia extended its lead to 7-0 with a sacrifice fly from Braden Zarbnisky and RBI double from Austin Davis down the left field line.

In the ninth, freshman right-handed pitcher Noah Short sealed the win for West Virginia with a scoreless ninth.

The Mountaineers will open conference play this weekend on the road against No. 2 Texas Tech. Friday’s series opener will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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