West Virginia's pitching staff tossed a gem on Friday night against UCF.
The Mountaineers used four pitchers as Griffin Kirn, Reese Bassinger, Chase Meyer and Carson Estridge held the Knights to one run for just the third time this year, as WVU bounced back from their loss on Tuesday to beat UCF 4-1 on Friday night, despite totaling only one total hits as an offense.
Kirn, who has been dazzling in each of his last two starts, was not as sharp on Friday, despite giving up only one run in 4.2 innings pitched.
Kirn ran into trouble in the third inning after a leadoff double, but the inning ended on a lineout to WVU second baseman Gavin Kelly, who doubled up the runner to end the threat.
UCF threatened again in the fifth, but cashed in this time around. After two outs on nine pitches, an error allowed a runner to reach base, before a hit-by-pitch, and then a single, tied the game at 1-1 in the fifth, and also ended Kirn's night prematurely.
In came Reese Bassinger, who needed to face just one batter to get out of the inning, and he would pitch into the seventh. Bassinger followed up on what Kirn started, dicing up UCF as he allowed two hits on 1.2 innings pitched.
Bassinger's night ended after he gave up a single in the seventh with one out, opening the door for Chase Meyer to come out of the bullpen for the Mountaineers. Meyer would surrender a single before he also got an inning-ending double play, a lineout to Brodie Kresser, who tossed it to Kelly to end the inning.
West Virginia's offense struggled against Penn State on Tuesday, and they did so again on Friday. Despite totaling only one hit on the game, WVU took advantage of opportunities on the basepaths.
WVU put up one run over the first six innings, a sac-fly from Spencer Barnett to score Grant Hussey, which put WVU up 1-0 at the time, before the Knights tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of he inning.
West Virginia added a run in the seventh inning as Brodie Kresser scored Armani Guzman on a sac-fly. Guzman came into the game for Kyle West, who recorded the Mountaineers' first hit of the game in the inning.
In the eighth, WVU's offense loaded the bases as Chase Swain reached on an error, Skylar King was hit by a pitch, and then Logan Sauve walked. Sam White then worked a 10-pitch at-bat, ending in another sac-fly for the Mountaineers as they took a 3-1 lead. They then added to that total as Jace Rinehart grounded out to score another run, putting the Mountaineers ahead 4-1.
In the bottom of the inning, Meyer was on the ropes, allowing two hits and a walk to load the bases with no outs. He would then go strikeout, strikeout, groundout, ending the inning without allowing the Knights to score.
Meyer walked the first batter he faced in the ninth, as head coach Steve Sabins put in Carson Estridge to try and close out the game.
Estridge hit the first batter he faced in the inning, putting the tying run at the plate with no outs. He would then only need two batters to end the game, as he got a strikeout, before a 6-3 double play to end the game.
UCF finished the game with nine total hits, leaving 11 runners on base.
This is only the second time in WVU history that the Mountaineers have had only one hit in a game and won. It's only the fourth time in program history that West Virginia has had three hits or fewer in a game and won.
With the win, WVU's winning streak in Big 12 play extends to 12 games, while the Mountaineers stay in first place in the league standings.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
