WVU Baseball Returns Favor, Crushes BYU 20-6

WVU Baseball got back in the win column on Friday, March 28, stomping the BYU Cougars 20-6 in Provo and avenging a blowout loss of their own the previous night.

This marks the Mountaineers’ highest scoring output of the season so far.

West Virginia (21-4, 3-3 Big 12) racked up 19 hits, eight walks, five hit batsmen and five extra base hits. Just one of their runs came via the long ball, a Skylar King homer off an 0-2 pitch in the third inning. For six frames, the game’s outcome hung in the balance as the Mountaineers compiled a 5-2 lead. King’s homer served as the go-ahead shot, and RBI singles from Gavin Kelly and Spencer Barnett helped West Virginia inch ahead.

After Gavin Van Kempen allowed two runs in 4.2 innings, Chase Meyer picked up the win in relief, stranding a runner on third before fanning four batters in 2.1 perfect innings.

The Mountaineers blew the game wide open with seven runs in the seventh inning and eight runs in the eighth, turning a potential save situation into an onslaught as they sent 12 runners to the plate in each frame. The seventh inning rally almost didn’t happen, with the Cougars racking up two outs on the first six pitches.

Chase Swain wore a pitch to keep the inning alive, Armani Guzman drew a walk on a 3-2 count, and a Barnett triple got the line moving. Six Mountaineers reached in the eighth before the Cougars recorded an out, then Guzman and Alex Marot each slugged a two-run double.

WVU Baseball will play their series finale at BYU starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 29.