WVU Baseball Handles Cougars Despite Key Injuries

WVU Baseball suffered injuries to staff Ace Maxx Yehl and star catcher Gavin Kelly on Saturday, April 18, but they still managed to roll to a 7-1 home win over the Houston Cougars. Yehl exited after the second inning: he allowed two walks and two hits in that time, his velocity lower than usual, but still managed to strike out two batters and keep Houston off the board. Kelly appeared to injure his arm on a slide in the first inning and, although he tried to stay in the game, head coach Steve Sabins turned to Matt Ineich behind the dish soon thereafter.

Ian Korn stepped up for the Mountaineers (26-9, 11-6 Big 12) in relief, saving the rest of the bullpen with a five inning outing. He allowed just one run, crossing via a double play in his last inning of work. West Virginia nursed a four-run lead at that point, a sacrifice bunt in the fifth and three singles in the sixth wearing away at Cougars’ starter Paul Schmitz.

The Mountaineers added three more runs in the bottom of the seventh — one from a Sean Smith single and two more off the bat of Brodie Kresser — giving Korn more cushion and allowing him to pass control of the mound on to Reese Bassinger.

Bassinger struck out three batters across 28 pitches and two clean innings to secure the win.

WVU Baseball will play to take the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 18.