No. 21 Mountaineers Wallop Wildcats

Manhattan, KS – The No. 21 West Virginia Mountaineers (30-17, 12-10) got their 30^th win of the season Friday night  over the Kansas State Wildcats (24-27, 7-12) in a lopsided 6-0 win. WVU starting pitcher Alek Manoah came back with a 13-strikeout performance after a tough outing against TCU last weekend, while the Mountaineer bats put up five runs in the first two innings.

Lead-off hitter Tyler Doanes began the game with a solo homerun to give the Mountaineers the early lead.

Brandon White followed it up with a single into right-centerfield. He stole second and moved to third after Darius Hill grounded out to second. Then with one out, Marques Inman hit a sacrifice grounder to third that brought White home to put WVU up 2-0.

Ivan Gonzalez led off the second inning ripping a double down the left line. He took third on a wild pitch, then TJ Lake hit a one out RBI single into right field.

TJ Tucker laid a bunt down and K-State pitcher Caleb Littlejim couldn’t make the throw over to first as Lake advance to third and Tucker moved to second.

Tyler Doanes hit a sacrifice ground ball to second to score Lake and Tucker took third before he would score on a wild pitch to cap off a three-run second inning to take a 5-0 lead.

West Virginia added another insurance run in the fourth, after Littlejim walked Tucker and Doanes with two outs, then Brandon White drilled a line drive into left field that rolled to the wall for an RBI double.

Mountaineer starting pitcher Alek Manoah came out dominate getting 10 of his 13 strikeouts going into the seventh and then showed off his athleticism getting the first out charging off the mound, snagging a chopping ground ball and racing over to first base for the out.

Manoah pitched eight innings only giving up three hits and a walk on the night and Dillon Meadows closed the game out with two strikeouts.

West Virginia and Kansas State meet in game two Saturday afternoon at 5:00 pm est inside Tointon Family Stadium.