Mountaineers Battle Back to take the Series from No. 25 Oklahoma State

The West Virginia Mountaineers (19-12, 4-5) fought their way to a 4-2 win over the No. 25 Oklahoma State Cowboys (19-11, 6-3) Sunday afternoon and took the series 2-1. The Mountaineers fell behind early, but great defense, pitching and patience at the plate gave WVU the lead late in the game.

For the third time in the series, the Mountaineers struck first and for the second time in the top of the first inning. Brandon White drew a one out walk, then took second base after a failed pick-off attempt from Oklahoma State starting pitcher Brett Standlee. Darius Hill took advantage with White in scoring position and pulled the ball down the rightfield line for an RBI double.

The Cowboys responded in the bottom of the inning. After a winning grand slam on Saturday night by Colin Simpson, he delivered again on a two-run homerun to the opposite side of the field to give OSU the 2-1 lead.

West Virginia starting pitcher Kade Strowd settled in and was backed up by some great defense in the second when TJ Lake leaped up along the leftfield wall and robbed Andrew Navigato of a two-rum homerun to end the inning.

Peyton Battenfield took the mound for the Pokes in the seventh and started his afternoon with a three up three down inning. However, the middle of the lineup for the Mountaineers put pressure on Bettenfield in the eighth.

Darius Hill got the inning started with a one out single through the hole on the right side and took second on another errant pick-off attempt.

Then with one out and two on, Paul McIntosh ripped a hard ground ball into the gap between third and short as Hill came racing home to tie the game at two.

Oklahoma State head coach Josh Holliday went back to his bullpen to bring in Logan Gragg, who then proceeded to walk back-to-back batters including the go-ahead run as the Mountaineers took a 3-2 lead.

Strowd pitched a career high 7.1 innings and had a season high 10 strikeouts.

Zach Reid came in, got a strikeout and closer Same Kessler closed the inning on a routine grounder back to the mound.

The Mountaineers added another run in the ninth when Brandon White ripped a single into left field then followed it up by stealing second base setting up another Darius Hill RBI single to extend the lead 4-2.

Kessler closed the game in the ninth with three strikeouts to give the Mountaineers their first Big 12 series road win  since they were in Stillwater two years ago and beat the No. 23 Cowboys

West Virginia returns to action Wednesday evening as they travel to College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins at 4:00 pm est.