Edwin Espinal smashed three home runs and had eight RBIs to lead the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Dirty Birds to an 11-1 romp over the York Revolution in seven …
To hear Kennedy Dean tell it, she was far from a great softball player in her formative years.
Welcome to Second Guess Tuesday. Here are the pollen-heavy opinions du jour.
RIPLEY — Prior to Tuesday night’s second game in the Class AAA Region 4 series at Ripley, Lincoln County coach Tommy Barrett spoke of his team…
With the way Eli Ellis was pitching, George Washington didn’t need to provide a lot of run support. But the Patriots did it anyway.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — Four home runs? That was nothing. After setting its 2022 game high in round trippers on Saturday, West Virginia smacked five on Sunday, including three consecutive shots in the fifth inning, to power a 10-8 win over Kansas and a 2-1 series win.
WVU needed them all, as Kansas (18-26, 3-12) hit two of their own, including a three-run moon shot from Caleb Upshaw in the bottom of the ninth to cut the deficit to two. The Jayhawks got a walk to bring the potential tying run to the plate, but WVU reliever Trey Braithwaite earned a two-pitch save, his sixth of the year, by inducing a pop-up to end the game.
The back-to-back-to-back homers turned a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead midway through the game, and all came with two out as McGwire Holbrook, Nathan Blasick and Braden Barry cleared the fence in left center, right and and left fields respectively. Holbrook’s hit just cleared the wall while the blasts of Blasick and Barry were well over 400 feet.
Coupled with a pair of two-run taters — Grant Hussey’s in the seventh and Barry’s in the ninth — WVU accounted for seven of its 10 runs with the long ball.
West Virginia appeared poised for a big inning in the first when it loaded the bases with a pair of walks on either side of a flared double from JJ Wetherholt, but the Mountaineers managed to score just one run on McGwire Holbrook’s double play groundout. It added another in the second when Mikey Kluska scored on a dropped popup off the glove of KU second baseman Tavian Josenberger.
The Jayhawks, as they did all weekend, responded, scoring four runs over the next two innings to grab a 4-2 lead. WVU, though, posted six runs in its next three at-bats, including the triple-header homer show, an Austin Davis RBI double and Hussey’s smooth-swing long ball, to take a three-run lead into the ninth.
The fireworks were far from over, though. After Barry’s two-run laser shot appeared to have delivered the coup de grace for WVU in the ninth, Kansas leaped off life support status with Upshaw’s bomb, but Braithwaite got the final out to give the Mountaineers (26-16, 9-6) the series win.
Until giving up the ninth-inning homer, WVU reliever Noah Short was ultra-efficient, having retired eight KU hitters on just 22 pitches. Zach Ottinger (2-1) got the win with his 2.1 innings of work in relief of starter Zach Bravo.
SEAMS AND BARRELS
WVU does not have a mid-week game scheduled prior to its home series with Texas this weekend, but head coach Randy Mazey said efforts to get one on the slate continue.
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West Virginia continues to battle to get consistent starting pitching, as encouraging efforts have been interspersed with some rocky showings. It’s unlikely that Jacob Watters or Ben Hampton, the Friday and Saturday starters, are moving anywhere, but might Chris Sleeper, who started a couple of games at the beginning of the season, get another shot at the Sunday spot?
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While the wind was not howling as it was in the first two games of the series, it still provided some challenges on Sunday. Both teams saw tall popups fall safely between fielders that appeared to have the ball surrounded, and just about any ball to the outfield was difficult to judge.
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The teams combined for 24 hits, with 13 of those going for extra bases. Seven of Kansas’ nine leadoff hitters reached base.
MORGANTOWN — It all came together for the West Virginia University baseball team Saturday afternoon at Monogalia County Ballpark.
HUNTINGTON — An early deficit to Middle Tennessee wasn’t enough to deter Marshall from rallying for an 11-7 win over the Blue Raiders in Confe…
At Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina, hitters can earn a steak dinner by hitting the Bull sign beyond the outfield fence. For West Virginia on Tuesday afternoon, it was nothing but tofu.
The Mountaineers (9-6) wasted multiple scoring opportunities throughout the game, leaving eight runners aboard and taking an 0-for-9 collar with runners in scoring position in dropping a 2-1 decision to the Duke Blue Devils. WVU had just two hits in 14 at-bats with runners aboard, and was only 3-for-14 in advancement chances.
The anemic performance at the plate also burned a decent starting pitching performance from Chris Sleeper, and outstanding showings from top relievers Trey Braithwaite and Jacob Watters, in a game that the West Virginia coaching staff clearly was going all out to win.
Sleeper worked 3 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and a walk. He struck out two, but also hit two batters while delivering just 39 strikes on 71 pitches while being tagged with the loss.
Braithwaite had a stellar showing, striking out three of the seven batters he faced while allowing no baserunners in 2 1/3 innings of work. Watters worked the final two innings, allowing only a walk while striking out one, but the lack of run support made those showings go for naught.
Braithwaite and Watters retired 12 of the final 13 batters they faced.
All of the scoring came in the fourth inning.
First baseman Grant Hussey got the Mountaineers on the board with a solo home run to right to give the visitors a 1-0 lead, but Duke responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead.
WVU starter Sleeper, who battled through an uneven first inning to keep the Blue Devils off the board, yielded three consecutive hits, a hit batter and a walk before departing. Braithwaite came on to strike out Duke leadoff hitter Chris Davis to prevent further damage.
WVU put runners in scoring position in the first and fifth innings, but could not push them across.
A pair of strikeouts in the top of the fifth with a runner on second set the tone for later shortcomings at the plate.
West Virginia (9-6) loaded the bases with none out in the seventh, but a season-long battle to capitalize on those situations continued.
Duke pitcher Josh Allen fanned WVU pinchhitters Vince Ippoliti and Ben Abernathy, and Austin Davis’ drive into the gap was tracked down by center fielder Trevor Johnson to keep the Mountaineers off the board.
The eighth inning was a near repeat, as WVU put runners on second and third with one out, but saw a popup and a strikeout end the threat. West Virginia batters fanned 10 times in the game.
Freshman JJ Wetherholt had two of WVU’s five hits, but the Mountaineers got none of the pinchhitting or bottom of the order support they have received in several game this year.
WVU moves a short distance down the road from Durham to High Point to face the Panthers (4-13) on Wednesday. Potential starting pitchers have not yet been announced.
