Takeaways: Solo Homers, Cold Offense Kill WVU Baseball vs KSU

WVU baseball lost to Kansas State Saturday as the Wildcats evened the series with a 7-1 win. Wildcats’ starter German Fajardo limited the Mountaineers’ offense, and they couldn’t overcome a flurry of home runs. 

Death by A Thousand Paper Cuts

Normally head coach Randy Mazey says that solo home runs won’t beat the Mountaineers. Allow five as a team, though, and it’s a different story. 

West Virginia stayed in the game until the bitter end, when a three-run eighth put them away, with each successive solo shot another nail in the coffin. 

The Mountaineers limited traffic on the base paths, preventing the final margin from spiraling to double digits early, but it didn’t matter when the offense couldn’t score. 

Offense Dries Up

The Mountaineers managed just four hits on the day. They drew four walks and a hit by pitch, but a 1-for-14 clip with runners on base meant that they couldn’t spark any offense when they did put a runner on.

Landon Wallace’s RBI triple was the only hit with runners on base: they didn’t have a single hit with runners in scoring position. 

Mid 4 | Mountaineers 1, Wildcats 2@landonwallace just misses tying the game, but still drives in a run with a triple!#HailWV pic.twitter.com/n9MYTg5kIK

— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) April 1, 2023

The Mountaineers haven’t been as aggressive as usual on the base paths in this series: they haven’t attempted a single stolen base through two games. With the series on the line Sunday afternoon, it’ll be interesting to see if Mazey dips into his bag of tricks.

Working Through the Bullpen

Most of West Virginia’s relievers haven’t seen many innings this season. With pitchers like Traxel and Ben Hampton who can even eat up seven innings on a down night, opportunities have been hard to come by for the Mountaineers’ bullpen outside of a few key contributors. Five West Virginia pitchers entered the game once Traxel left in the eighth inning, three of whom faced just one batter. With an opportunity to tap into the bullpen, head coach Randy Mazey didn’t hesitate to burn through his relievers and keep them fresh.

WVU baseball (20-6, 1-1 Big 12) now looks to play a critical rubber match with the Wildcats on Sunday afternoon.