One wouldn't think that things could get much stranger than they were in West Virginia's 4-1 baseball win over UCF on Friday night, a game in which the Mountaineers had just one hit and Knights pitchers hit more WVU batters than both teams combined to score runs.
However, the oddities kept coming on Saturday at UCF's John Eulian Park. A first inning that saw nine combined runs cross the plate was followed by 2 1/2 frames of effective hurling and zeroes on the board. A toss of the ball and trash talk by a UCF pitcher who lost track of how many outs there were resulted in a run. A huge homer came off the bat of a player hitting .090.
It all combined to make for another fascinating contest, but in the end West Virginia (36-5, 15-3 Big 12) took better advantage of its scoring chances to ring up a 15-10 win and record another series win while keeping a grip on the top spot in the Big 12 standings.
WVU started the game with a vengeance, trying to make up for Friday's woeful hitting performance. It did just that, as six of the first seven hitters in the order reached base. Gavin Kelly had a two-RBI single, Grant Hussey an RBI double, Brodie Kresser a bunt single for a score and Spencer Barnett a sacrifice fly to stake the Mountaineers to a 5-0 lead.
That advantage didn't last long, though, as UCF (23-19, 6-14) chased West Virginia starter Gavin Van Kempen after facing only five batters in the bottom of the inning. Two walks set the stage for an RBI single and a three-run homer, and when Van Kempen gave up a double, he was relieved after recording just one out. Ben McDougal came on to get the final two outs of the inning.
UCF took the lead in the fourth at 6-5 with a brace of doubles around a single, but Mountaineer reliever Cole Fehrman was able to keep the damage to a minimum after loading the bases by getting a strikeout. That set a tone for much of the evening, as UCF formed threat after threat, but couldn't get a big inning after its four-run first.
The teams traded single runs in the fifth, but again the Knights missed a golden chance for more after loading the bases with two out, only to see their at-bat end on a flyout. The seventh also saw matching single runs, and more strangeness. WVU received a gift run when Knight pitcher Angel Smith directed some chatter at Sam White, who he beat to the bag for an out. Smith apparently thought that was the third out of the inning, although it was only the second, and when he flipped the ball away, Armani Guzman scored from second to tie the game at 7-7.
UCF retook the lead with a pair of hits and a groundout after the stretch, but WVU reliever Chase Meyer again minimized the harm by getting a weak tapper back to the mound and a strikeout to strand a runner on third.
WVU then went big over the last two innings, scoring eight runs to finally get some breathing room that UCF could not overcome. King slashed a two-run double down the third base line to start the onslaught, and Guzman's bunt, which was well-placed, created another. One more went up on Logan Sauve's double play, on which he was thrown out at first, followed by Guzman being cut down attempting to advance to third. King, though, scored before Guzman was tagged out, putting the Mountaineers up 11-8.
Back came USF with two in the eighth, but West Virginia duplicated its four spot in the ninth on Kresser's RBI single and Ben Lumsden's three-run homer, which led to him being mobbed in the Mountaineer dugout. Lumsden has been mostly a late inning defensive replacement and pinch hitter this year, and had only a pair of hits in the BYU series before driving a ball deep into the parking lot behind the right field fence to finally push WVU clear at 15-10.
Chase Meyer (8-1) was credited with the win as he was the pitcher of record when WVU took its final lead, but it was Ben McDougal, who held UCF down with 2 2/3 scoreless innings, who pitched most effectively for the Mountaineers. Estridge got his fifth save of the season despite allowing four baserunners in 1 2/3 innings.
In a complete reversal of the previous night, WVU hitting stars abounded. Lumsden broke out of his season-long slump with three RBI on his blast, and Kelly also drove in three. West and Kresser both had three-hit evenings, while King and Hussey had two each. UCF's Andrew Sundean was 3-5 with five RBI for the Knights.
The final game of the series is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday, which is just a little more than 14 hours from the conclusion of Saturday's marathon, which lasted 4 hours and 43 minutes.
WVU's Jack Kartsonas (4-1, 1.78 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 39 K, 9 BB) will square off against Matt Sauser (3-0, 1.82 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 21 K, 5 BB) in a matchup of very effective starters.
