WVU Baseball Comes Back Late to Win 7-4, Sweeps Minnesota

West Virginia baseball earned their first sweep of the season with a 7-4 win over Minnesota. The Mountaineers trailed by one late, but put up five runs in the eighth to win comfortably. 

Sophomore transfer Grant Siegel turned in his best start in a Montaineers uniform. He went 5.2 innings, a season high, giving up just two hits and two earned runs while striking out six: four free passes hurt his final line. Siegel walked the first batter he faced before retiring nine in a row.

The Mountaineers singled the bases loaded with no outs in the third inning. JJ Wetherholt hit a sacrifice fly that Minnesota turned into a double play, but not before a run scored.

Minnesota second baseman Brady Counsell made it on via error in the fourth inning. He came around to score—unearned—on a double that ended Siegel’s no-hit bid after 11 outs.

Designated hitter Sam White and first baseman Grant Hussey traded places with doubles in the bottom of the frame to reclaim the lead 2-1.

Siegel ran into trouble in the sixth inning, his last. He walked a batter, who then stole second. An RBI double tied the game and sent him to the dugout. 

Flamethrower Carlson Reed entered and allowed a single that made it 3-2 Minnesota. 

Left fielder Landon Wallace got hit with a pitch to start the seventh. Center fielder Braden Barry singled to put runners at the corners with one out, bringing Wetherholt to the plate. He hit into a double play to end the threat.

After a pair of walks to start the eighth, third baseman Ellis Garcia hit a game-tying single. 

Minnesota intentionally walked Hussey, but a passed ball with Wallace at the plate put West Virginia ahead. Wallace grounded out to score another, shortstop Tevin Tucker doubled to plate a run of his own, and a bases-loaded walk made it 7-3.

Keegan Allen entered for the ninth and recorded a pair of strikeouts. Minnesota scored a run with two outs, but it was too little, too late. 

West Virginia goes back on the road Tuesday for a midweek series with Appalachian State: the first game will start at 6 p.m.