WVU evens series with 10-7 win over Oklahoma State
West Virginia (16-16, 2-6) evened the three-game series against Oklahoma State (19-13-1, 8-3) with a 10-7 win over the Cowboys Saturday evening at Monongalia County Ballpark.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Kade Strowd made his eighth start of the season and delivered a strong performance, striking out 10 batters in five innings, coming just one strikeout short of tying his career-high of 11 in a single game set earlier this season against Middle Tennessee State. He also allowed three runs on five hits.
At the bats, freshman Tyler Doanes and redshirt sophomore Marques Inman combined for four hits and seven RBIs.
Strowd started things off with a walk and hit batter, but then struck out back-to-back batters. Oklahoma State then got on the board first with an RBI single from Christian Funk which gave the Cowboys a 1-0 lead.
West Virginia then responded with a six-run second inning that included RBI singles from Darius Hill and Inman, a two-run RBI single from Chase Illig and then a two-run RBI triple from Doanes. This marked the first time since May 26, 2017 that West Virginia managed to score six or more runs in a single inning.
The Mountaineers took a 6-1 lead into the second inning as Strowd struck out six total batters within the first two innings and seven through three, helping West Virginia maintain its five-run lead.
Both teams were held scoreless in both the second and third innings, but the Cowboys cut West Virginia’s lead down to four runs in the fourth inning with an RBI ground out from Cade Cabbiness.
West Virginia would leave two on base in the bottom of the fourth, but Strowd would continue his strong day on the mound as he came up with his 10th strikeout of the day in the top of the fifth inning as the Mountaineers maintained their four-run lead.
The Mountaineers then added to their lead with Doanes’ third RBI of the game as he drove in Kyle Gray to extend West Virginia’s lead to 7-2 after five innings. Oklahoma State responded with a two-run sixth inning as the Cowboys cut West Virginia’s lead down to three runs with RBI singles from Michael Neustifter and Carson McCusker.
In the bottom half of the same inning, West Virginia made it a four-run game with an RBI ground out from Inman to put the score at 8-4 in favor of the Mountaineers, but Oklahoma State quickly turned it back into a three-run game with an RBI double from Funk for his second RBI of the day which made it an 8-5 game.
Oklahoma State then narrowed West Virginia’s lead down to just one run with an RBI single from Matt Kroon and a walk for Funk with the bases loaded from Alek Manoah who relieved right-hander Sam Kessler in the eighth after two innings of relief.
Junior Braden Zarbnisky was walked to start the inning and later advanced to second before moving to third after a balk. Inman then hit his fifth home run of the season which gave West Virginia a 10-7 lead with two outs in the eighth inning.
In the ninth, Manoah secured the win for West Virginia and earned his first save of the season.
The Mountaineers will go for the series win against Oklahoma State at Monongalia County Ballpark Sunday at noon.
