WVU Baseball Halts Skid, Blanks Kansas State in Maxx Yehl’s Return

WVU Baseball snapped a two game losing streak on Friday, May 1, defeating the Kansas State Wildcats 7-0 in Morgantown behind three hits from Paul Schoenfeld and nine collective innings from Maxx Yehl and Ian Korn.

Yehl, who missed last week’s start to injury, returned to the mound for the No. 18 Mountaineers (29-12, 14-8 Big 12) and fired five scoreless innings, striking out eight batters on 87 pitches. Korn took it from there and earned the save through virtue of entering with a 3-0 lead, keeping the Wildcats off the board the rest of the way.

Gavin Kelly walked and Schoenfeld doubled to put West Virginia ahead in the first inning. Yehl worked through traffic in the second, allowing two singles, but managed to preserve the Mountaineers’ lead. Matt Ineich and Kelly rewarded him with singles in the third, putting two runners in scoring position and pushing the lead to 2-0 on a Sean Smith sacrifice fly to center. The Wildcats put two aboard in the fourth and fifth frames, but West Virginia drew blood next with another sacrifice fly, this one from Matt Graveline.

Korn took over for the sixth and retired the first six batters he faced; a Schonfeld single began a seventh inning rally as the Mountaineers loaded the bases with two outs. Brodie Kresser singled home two runs, then keyed a double steal that scored Armani Guzman. A Brock Wills single made it 7-0, and Korn slammed the door shut.

WVU Baseball will continue their series with Kansas State at 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 2.