No. 21 Mountaineers Overpower Hokies

Blacksburg, VA – Kevin Brophy and Marques Inman powered the No. 21 West Virginia Mountaineers (29-17) past the Virginia Tech Hokies (25-25) 7-2 inside Union Park Wednesday night. The duo combined for six of the seven RBI’s and starting pitcher Nick Snyder dealt 12 strikeouts on the evening.

The Mountaineers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second after Ivan Gonzalez hit a line-drive just over the head of first baseman Nick Holesa that rolled under the wall for a ground rule double before left-handed hitter Kevin Brophy went opposite field for a two-run homerun.

Marques Inman led-off the fourth inning with a walk, then Ivan Gonzalez hit a double off the left field corner to set up Kevin Brophy for his third RBI of the night on a sacrifice ground ball to second. Then with two outs, Tevin Tucker goes for an RBI single to put the Mountaineers up 4-0.

West Virginia starting pitcher Nick Snyder was continuing his dominance, after a complete one-game hitter last week versus Marshall, only giving up two hits through four. Nonetheless, the Hokies started the bottom of the fifth with consecutive singles from Jonah Seagears and Nick Holesa. Seagears advance to third on a bunt and scored the first Hokies run on a wild pitch.

Snyder’s night ended in the seventh after giving up a one out single and West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey brought in Tristan Hudson.

Hudson hit the first batter, then Mazey again would call upon his bullpen, this time for Zach Reid.

Reid started off hitting back-to-back batters that brought in another Hokie run to get within two. He followed it up trailing in the count 3-0 but would settle in and get out of the inning, leaving the bases loaded.

Brandon White started the eighth inning with a walk, then Darius Hill ripped a line-drive into right field to give the Mountaineers runners on the corners. Marques Inman stepped to the plate hitless in the game, then on a 3-1 pitch, blasted a three-run homerun to deep centerfield to give WVU a five-run cushion.

Zach Ottinger came in the ninth and finished the Hokies off with a 1-2-3 inning.

West Virginia finishes off Big 12 play this weekend in Manhattan against the Kansas State Wildcats. First of the three-game series begins Friday at 7:00 pm est.