West Virginia baseball completed a sweep of their doubleheader and therefore a sweep of their three-game series over Utah on Saturday, beating the Utes 6-4 in game one, and 14-4 in game two, extending their winning streak to seven games.
With the two wins, WVU improves to 27-4 on the season, and 7-3 in Big 12 play. The Mountaineers will next be back in action on Tuesday at home against Penn State.
Game One
West Virginia used two pitchers, as Reese Bassinger tossed a scoreless 4.2 innings out of the bullpen, helping West Virginia beat Utah 6-4.
Both teams got on the board in the first inning, as the Utes got two hits in the first, to score off WVU starter Gavin Van Kempen.
West Virginia responded as Brodie Kresser singled, and Skylar King was hit by a pitch to put the first two runners of the game on base for the Mountaineers. Jace Rinehart singled to eventually score Kresser as WVU tied the game at 1-1.
The Mountaineers grabbed three more runs in the second inning, as it was Kresser who hit a three-run blast to left field, going 384 feet over the left field wall, his third home run of the season.
Leading 4-1, the Mountaineers got a scoreless third inning from Van Kempen, before he gave up one in the fourth on a sac-fly after he hit a batter and walked a batter.
West Virginia got one run back on a double from Kresser in the bottom of the inning, as they led 5-2.
Van Kempen would be taken out in the fifth, as he gave up a walk and a single to the first two batters he faced in the inning. Reese Bassinger came into pitch for Van Kempen, giving up a two-run single, as West Virginia's lead was cut to just one at 5-4.
Van Kempen's afternoon ended with him tossing 4.1 innings, giving up four runs on four hits, walking three, and striking out two.
It would be Bassinger who dealt the rest of the way for West Virginia on the mound, retiring the side in order in the sixth, and giving up only two hits the remainder of the game. Bassinger turned in a performance where he pitched 4.2 innings, allowing three hits and no runs.
WVU's offense added one more run in the seventh, on a sac-fly from Gavin Kelly. WVU's offense finished with nine hits, as Kresser led the way going 3-for-5 with four RBIs on the afternoon.
Game Two
West Virginia's offense scored 10 runs in the first four innings in game two, as they would beat Utah, 14-4 (8 inn.).
After hitting the go-ahead home run in the 8th inning last night, Grant Hussey homered again to open the scoring for the Mountaineers and tie the game at 1-1 in the second inning. Brodie Kresser would then reach on a throwing error, allowing Armani Guzman to score, before a two-run single from Skylar King, scored two more as WVU led 4-1 after two.
The Mountaineers added another in the third off a single from Chase Swain before WVU scored five in the fourth.
It started with a single from Spencer Barnett to score Armani Guzman, before King tripled to score Kresser and Barnett. Jace Rinehart doubled to score King before Hussey singled to score Rinehart as West Virginia led 10-3.
Carson Esridge got the start in game three of the series, but he would not get out of the fourth inning. He allowed three runs on seven hits, striking out one while throwing 65 pitches across 3.2 innings pitched.
After Estridge came Jack Kartsonas, who entered the game in the fourth, getting a strikeout to end the inning. Kartsonas allowed a run in the fifth on a wild pitch, after a leadoff single and two groundouts, moving the runner to third.
WVU had roughly a 15-minute rain delay in the sixth inning with West Virginia leading 11-4, and the Mountaineers immediately grabbed a run in the seventh. Barness doubled, stole third before he scored on an RBI single from Kresser.
Ben McDougal came to pitch in the eighth for the Mountaineers, as Kartsonas threw 3.1 innings, allowing one run on three hits, and striking out six in the process.
McDougal used 18 pitches to pitch a scoreless eighth, striking out two in the inning.
It was a very brief delay in the eighth as the rain came back, dumping buckets.
However, this came after Gavin Kelly hit a little league home run, sliding in at second, third, and home plate, scoring on what was originally a hustle double.
Kelly overslid second base on the wet turf, but the Utah defender did not hold onto the baseball. He realized and went to third, but the throw wasn't handled, allowing him to scamper home to give WVU a 13-4 lead.
The game ended on a single from Barnett, allowing Alex Marot to score after a throwing error from the Utah right fielder.
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