Jacob Watters’ Five No-Hit Innings, Seven-Run Sixth Send WVU Baseball over YSU

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The final non-conference series of WVU Baseball’s schedule went off without a hitch.

After taking yesterday’s game 6-4 and the first of Friday’s double-header 9-3, West Virginia (12-8) was not going to drop the third game to the Youngstown State Penguins (9-13).

WVU head coach Randy Mazey sent junior right-handed pitcher Jacob Watters (1-1) onto the mound to represent the core of the Mountaineer defense, and defend, he did. Watters pitched five stellar innings, including 79 total pitches, five strikeouts, and did not allow a hit.

The Mountaineers held the Penguins completely off the board until the sixth inning, when Watters was relieved by senior righty Zach Ottinger. Meanwhile on offense, West Virginia was shredding the base path.

Similarly to the first of today’s match-ups, the WVU offense kicked into gear in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman third baseman JJ Wetherholt laid down a quick bunt-turned-single to get on base, and promptly stole second. Junior center fielder Victor Scott walked to move the runners along. Wetherholt proceeded to also steal third to complete the stealing trifecta, and then even headed home thanks to a YSU throwing error. Scott advanced to third amid the chaos, and eventually touched home during the final moments of freshman Grant Hussey’s at-bat. The first baseman hit a sac fly to left field to score Scott and boost the early West Virginia lead to 2-0.

The Mountaineers were back in the second. It only took two batters to add another run to the scoreboard: freshman Evan Smith and sophomore Mikey Kluska. Smith singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He then added to an eventual 11 stolen bases this game with a quick jaunt to third. Shortstop Kluska grounded out to second for the first out of the inning, and Smith took the opportunity to close the 90 feet for the game’s third run.

The bottom of the third provided Mountaineer fans even more action, three runs in fact. Senior right fielder Austin Davis lead off the inning with a single-turned-triple. A stolen base and a balk later, he only needed a little more momentum to add WVU’s fourth run. He got it in the form of a Wetherholt fielder’s choice. Wetherholt then stole third to round the base path. Holbrook walked to place runners at the corners. With two outs, the Mountaineer momentum was only growing. WVU sent runners home in a frenzy of back-to-back plays. The advantage began off the bat of redshirt senior catcher Vince Ippoliti, whose single scored Wetherholt and moved Holbrook to third base. A Penguin fielding error on the play shifted the bases one slot, sending Holbrook home as well for a dominant 6-0 score.

The Mountaineer onslaught was finally quieted in the fourth inning, when Youngstown State reliever Travis Perry entered the game. He sat down his side in the quickest bottom of an inning the game had seen.

In the sixth inning, Youngstown State finally caught a break. Ottinger allowed a single off the bat of senior Lucas Nasonti to break the WVU no-no; the center fielder then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Next batter up, junior Braeden O’Shaughnessy smacked a triple into shallow right center, scoring Nasonti. The final Penguin score would happen only two batters later. Braeden’s brother, redshirt senior first baseman Patraig walked to place the O’Shaughnessy siblings on the corners. The older of the two brothers came home courtesy of a fielder’s choice off the bat of teammate Andre Good.

The 6-2 score would be the closest this game got to a lead change.

To add insult to injury, the Mountaineers then added a seven-run sixth inning to the record book. Thirteen batters later, the Mountaineers lead an indomitable 13-2. Wetherholt laid down a 3RBI double that scored Davis, Kluska and redshirt junior Tevin Tucker. The tenth stolen base of the game came as Wetherholt got to third base, and the final, eleventh, base followed a Scott walk. YSU’s lefty Kenny Misik couldn’t stop the Mountaineers from maintaining a bases loaded offensive press, especially not when staring down the barrel of a Hussey-Holbrook due-up situation. Hussey and Holbrook both walked, the latter of which scored Wetherholt to make the score 10-2.

Pinch hitter Nathan Blasick was the next Mountaineer to etch his name in the game statistics. A bases loaded, RBI walk transpired from his single at-bat. The final WVU runs came off the bat of fellow freshman Evan Smith, whose double into left center scored both Holbrook and Hussey to account for the game’s last scores.

WVU took its thirteenth win, and the series sweep, after stealing 11 bags and converting eight hits into 13 runs. The Mountaineer defense played lights out, committing zero errors to the Penguins’ five. WVU’s Watters moves to 2-1 with the win, and the loss was attributed to Youngstown State’s Matt Brosky.

WVU will look forward to opening conference play against the TCU Horned Frogs on Apr. 1, but prior to that, travel to Huntington to play the rescheduled Marshall match-up on Mar. 29. First pitch on that mid-week game is set for 3 p.m.