WVU Snaps 22-Game Mid-Week Home Win Streak with 8-4 Penn State Loss

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The last time the West Virginia baseball team lost at home in a mid-week match-up was May 2017 to Penn State. Tonight, the same two teams yielded similar results.

The Mountaineers (24-14) welcomed the Nittany Lions (17-21) to Monongalia County Ballpark for the first time since that day in May. This also marked the second time these two teams have faced off in 2022. WVU took the 8-4 victory on Apr. 12. Tonight, the scorecard shifted.

West Virginia sent freshman right-handed pitcher Aidan Major to the mound and he played a fairly clean 2.1 innings. He allowed three runs on three hits while tallying four strikeouts through 60 pitches.

By the time Penn State’s third run crossed home plate in the third inning, it had become the tying run. When West Virginia faced Nittany Lions’ southpaw Tyler Shingledeck, the batters ran up three quick runs in the first and second innings. A JJ Wetherholt single touched them all courtesy of a Victor Scott double that plated the first run. Scott was brought home off a McGwire Holbrook single to up the score to 2-0.

The third run came in the second inning. Back-to-back singles placed Dayne Leonard at third and Mikey Kluska at first; a groundout double play from Tevin Tucker scored Leonard to give the Mountaineers a 3-0 lead through the second inning.

Then, the Mountaineer defense started getting messy. A lead-off single from Penn State’s Cole Bartels put a runner on the base path. Major dealt Jay Harry a walk next, and a Josh Spiegel single scored Bartels to begin the Nittany Lion comeback. WVU head coach Randy Mazey replaced Major with Zach Ottinger, but the Penn State hitters were prepared. A double from Johnny Piacentino sent Spiegel to third and scored Harry. Spiegel ended his rendezvous with the base path with a run scored on a failed pick-off attempt to notch the tying run.

The top of the Penn State lineup struck in the fourth inning. The 9-hole, Tayven Kelley, got himself into scoring position with a solidly-hit double, and Bartels moved him a base further with a fly-out. A quick Harry single concluded Kelley’s trip and took the Penn State lead 4-3, one they would not relinquish.

The Nittany Lions added a pair of scores in the fifth from the middle of the lineup. Ottinger had exited, and WVU’s second reliever of the night, righty Carlson Reed, was about to face a discouraging inning of work. The inning’s lead-off batter, Spiegel, shot a solo home run over the left field wall to start the scoring. West Virginia’s infield couldn’t convert a fielder’s choice, and allowed 6-hole hitter Ben Kailher to reach and subsequently steal second base. He was brought home by a Billy Gerlott triple to up the Penn State lead to 6-3. That lead would stand convincingly until the bottom of the eighth inning.

In the eighth inning, WVU small ball staged a comeback of its own. Grant Hussey got the ball rolling with a walk, and back-to-back singles from Leonard and Kluska, both of whom ended their nights 3-4, moved the runners forward. Tucker forced a fielder’s choice and scored Hussey for the Mountaineers’ fourth run, but caught Kluska in the cross-fire. With men on the corners and two outs, WVU was in prime position to shut down the Nittany Lion lead. Tonight, they couldn’t quite get it done. Tucker stole second to advance the scoring position, and Austin Davis walked to load the bases with two outs. Up to bat next: Wetherholt, who had gone 1-3 with a single up to that point. He wasn’t gelling tonight. After pulling the count full, he watched the final strike cross the plate to strand the night’s eighth, ninth, and tenth Mountaineer batters.

Against Mountaineer closer-turned-reliever, righty Trey Braithwaite, the Nittany Lions added the game’s final runs. The ninth inning allowed Penn State to piece together a single, a walk, and a double to plate the seventh and eighth runs. The double, off the bat of Piacentino, scored both Matt Wood and Spiegel, from second and first respectively. The 8-4 Nittany Lion victory proved final when the Mountaineer batters were set down in order by Penn State closer Jordan Morales.

West Virginia (25-15) was forced to settle for its four runs on 11 hits, while Penn State’s eight came from 10 hits. With the final, Penn State’s reliever Mason Mellott earned his third victory (3-4), while West Virginia’s Ottinger (1.2IP-3H-1R-1K) was handed his first loss (1-1). This is WVU’s final mid-week game until May 10, when the team welcomes the Backyard Brawl’s final 2022 edition to Monongalia County Ballpark.

Ahead of that, though, the Mountaineers head to Kansas for a weekend series with the Jayhawks. The first pitch of Friday’s game is slated for 7 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.