WVU Baseball Drops Series Finale After Bullpen Blowup

WVU Baseball held a 6-0 lead after the top of the sixth inning in their Sunday, March 1 loss to Kennesaw State.

The Mountaineers (8-2) then allowed seven unanswered runs with starting pitcher Maxx Yehl out of the game, falling 7-6 after they couldn’t scrape Matthew Graveline home following a one-out double.

Designated hitter Ryan Maggy singled home two runs in the first with a two-out bloop to center. Brodie Kresser and Tyrus Hall wore pitches to begin the second, setting the table for a three-run bomb from Gavin Kelly, but the Owls’ pitching settled in with starter Cole Royer pulled from the game. Reliever Daniel Powell blanked the Mountaineers for 3.2 innings, facing the minimum across his first eight batters.

Kelly cleared the fences a second time in the sixth inning, and from there the Owls seized control. A throwing error from shortstop Matt Ineich got Kennesaw State going, and right-handed reliever Bryson Thacker allowed a two-out RBI single; a wild pitch plated another run.

Thacker allowed a leadoff double in the seventh, and head coach Steve Sabins turned to Carson Estridge after a groundout. Estridge allowed an RBI single and a two-run homer that whittled West Virginia’s lead to one run. True freshman reliever David Perez gave up a two-run blast in the eighth that proved the difference. While Graveline’s double gave the Mountaineers life in the ninth, Paul Schoenfeld fouled out and Matthew Robaugh went down looking to end the game.

Up next, WVU Baseball will host Radford for a two-game midweek series beginning at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3.