West Virginia hosted Marshall for the first of three games this season against their in-state rival.
After the Mountaineer pitching staff fell apart in the late innings on Sunday against Arizona, they rebounded in a big way on Tuesday, as six pitchers were used to shut out Marshall, 7-0 from Kendrick Family Ballpark in Morgantown.
West Virginia gave the ball to David Hagen who was making his fifth start of the season. Before last week, Hagen had not pitched past the second inning, before he tossed 5.0 innings against JMU last week. This week, while he wouldn't reach the five-inning mark, he would be more effective, tossing four shutout innings, and giving up only one hit.
Offensively, West Virginia was once against without Logan Sauve for the second-straight game, as well as Sam White, who exited Sunday's game with a shoulder injury.
WVU got on the board in the first inning as three walks loaded the bases before Skylar King drove home Gavin Kelly on a sac-fly. Then, in the second, Chase Swain hit a leadoff home run, his second of the year, putting the Mountaineers ahead 2-0.
Hagen retired the first six batters he faced, before walking the first batter of the third. That would be all Marshall got in the inning, as Hagen retired the next three in order.
West Virginia added four more runs in the bottom of the inning, as almost all of WVU's offense came in the first three innings.
The third started with Kyle West walking before Jace Rinehart singled with one out. King would then deliver again for the Mountaineers, singling to score West, who advanced to third on the single by Rinehart. Rinehart then completed a double steal with King to score as West Virginia led 4-0.
Swain kept the line moving, singling to score King, before Swain came around to score on a single from Armani Guzman as WVU led 6-0 at the end of the inning. WVU sent all nine batters to the plate in the inning, scoring four runs on four hits.
Hagen exited following the fourth, giving way to Tyler Hutson. Hutson was one of those pitchers who struggled on Sunday against the Wildcats, but it was a different result on Tuesday. He tossed 2.0 innings, giving up two hits, while he also struck out two. Mac Stiffler tossed a scoreless seventh, while Robby Porco tossed a scoreless eighth, and multiple pitchers in the ninth helped close out the game.
Bryant Yoak closed out the ballgame, facing one batter, getting one out, before Ben McDougal came in for Yoak to get the final two outs.
WVU's offense grabbed one more run in the eighth, as an infield single from Gavin Kelly scored Guzman, putting WVU ahead 7-0, where the score would finish.
The Mountaineers improve to 20-3 on the season, and they now head out west to face BYU for a three-game series starting on Thursday.
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