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WVU Baseball Falls 10-7 to Kansas, Dropping Series

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WVU Baseball sophomore Aidan Major delivers a pitch.

WVU Baseball lost the game and the series against the Kansas Jayhawks 10-7 on Saturday. The win marked the seventh in a row for the red-hot Jayhawks.

The Mountaineers took an early 3-0 lead, but they couldn’t hang on to it. After a five-run fifth from the Jayhawks, West Virginia pulled within one run twice, but they never managed to plate the tying score. 

Second baseman JJ Wetherholt singled to lead off the first. Designated hitter Dayne Leonard doubled, moving Wetherholt to third, and right fielder Caleb McNeely flied out to give West Virginia a 1-0 lead. 

Left fielder Landon Wallace doubled to begin the second, and true freshman catcher Logan Suave hit the first home run of his collegiate career to open a 3-0 lead.

Kansas Turns Up the Heat

Jayhawks’ first baseman Cole Elvis singled in the fourth on a lazy popup that fell in no man’s land between first base and right field. First baseman Grant Hussey recovered the ball in time to throw to first, where Traxel covered to make the tag.

The play saved a run, as Jayhawks designated hitter Janson Reeder homered on the next pitch to make it 3-1. 

Traxel hit Kansas center fielder Mike Koszewski with a pitch to begin the fifth. Shortstop Jackson Cobb tripled to score Koszewski, and another hit by pitch put runners at the corners. 

The Mountaineers failed to make an out on a fielder’s choice by right fielder Jackson Kline, scoring another run. Elvis hit an opposite-field home run to open a 6-3 lead.

Close… But Not Close Enough

Hussey walked, Wallace singled, and Jayhawks starter Sam Ireland hit third baseman Sam White with a pitch to load the bases with no outs in the sixth. Ireland hit Sauve with a pitch to score a run, and shortstop Tevin Tucker hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-5. 

Jayhawks head coach Dan Fitzgerald pulled Ireland for left-hander Gavin Brasosky. Brasosky escaped the inning without surrendering any more runs. 

After Mountaineers’ sophomore Aidan Major worked a pair of strikeouts looking in the seventh, Elvis drew a walk. Reeder doubled him home to establish a 7-5 lead. 

McNeely singled and Hussey wore a pitch to put two on with no outs in the bottom of the frame. Wallace blooped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over, and White grounded out to make it 7-6. 

Jayhawks catcher Jay English began the eighth with a home run. A groundout with runners at the corners plated another, and Hussey couldn’t quite corral a throw from Tucker on a fielding error that made it 10-6.

Tucker led off the bottom of the eighth with a triple, coming around to score on a Leonard groundout.

Wallace reached on an error and pinch-hitter Ellis Garcia worked a walk to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth. Kansas closer Stone Hewlett struck out Tucker to complete a six-out save.

WVU Baseball moves to 22-9 (2-3 Big 12) on the season. They’ll play to avoid the sweep at 3pm Sunday, with true freshman Robby Porco on the mound. 

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