Marshall Sports
WVU Baseball Blanks Marshall 7-0 as Chase Swain Homers
GRANVILLE, W.Va. — WVU Baseball blanked the Marshall Thundering Herd 7-0 on Tuesday, March 25 in the first of three games they’ll play against their in-state rivals this season, building up a comfortable lead early and riding their pitching staff to the finish.
The Mountaineers (20-3, 2-2 Big 12) tacked on one run apiece in the first and second inning thanks to a Skylar King sacrifice fly and a line drive leadoff homer from Chase Swain. They then began to pile on with four runs in the third, with each West Virginia batter stepping to the plate once.
King and Swain each added their second RBI of the game and Jace Rinehart stole home on a throwing error from catcher Nolan Wilson, all helping to chase away Marshall starter Fenix DiGiacomo after just 2.2 innings pitched. The switch to reliever Alex McKay began in rocky fashion as Armani Guzman immediately poked an RBI single to right field, but McKay managed to force a Brodie Kresser groundout to escape the frame.
Gavin Kelly singled home a run in the eighth inning as West Virginia polished their bunting skills.
Mountaineers’ starter David Hagen allowed just one hit — which probably should’ve been scored as an error after Grant Hussey missed first base — across four innings and 52 pitches, striking out one batter. While they dealt with traffic from time to time, West Virginia’s bullpen combined to fire five scoreless innings: two from Tyler Hutson and one apiece from Mac Stiffler, Robby Porco and Bryant Yoak.
Up next, WVU Baseball will head to Provo to face BYU for a weekend series starting at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 27.
