WVU Baseball Slugs Six Homers, Crushes Penn State 18-7

WVU Baseball ran the Penn State Nittany Lions out of the building on Tuesday, slugging six home runs on the way to an 18-7 mercy rule win at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

The Mountaineers batted around the order in the first inning, with the first seven members of their lineup reaching base in order. Catcher Logan Sauve got the party started, golfing the first pitch of the game over the wall in left-center. Third baseman Sam White singled in two more runs with the bases juiced, then Brodie Kresser obliterated a pitch 426 feet for a grand slam… and a 7-0 first inning lead.

West Virginia continued to put the hurt on in the second inning with consecutive homers from Reed Chumley and White, while a Skylar King sacrifice fly and a Sauve single pushed the score to 11-0. Penn State kept things interesting for a time with a third inning rally, scoring seven runs—six of which came with two outs—to inch their way back into the game.

That was all the offense they’d muster, though, while the Mountaineers weren’t anywhere close to finished. West Virginia tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the frame, then superstar shortstop JJ Wetherholt, who finished the game a triple short of the cycle, made his presence known with a 439-foot nuke.

JJ JUST HIT A BALL ONTO THE ROOF OF THE CLUBHOUSE ‼ pic.twitter.com/GSZO4Gm77i

— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 9, 2024

Ellis Garcia doubled home a pair of runs in the fifth inning, while Maxx Yehl, Tommy Beam and Aidan Smith combined for 4.1 scoreless innings to preserve a ten-run lead and set the table for the mercy rule win.

WVU Baseball moves to 29-18 on the season (15-9 Big 12). They’ll host the Kansas State Wildcats for a three-game series this weekend starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday.