WVU Baseball Storms Past Texas Tech, Takes Series

WVU Baseball stormed past Texas Tech 10-2 on Sunday, April 12, maintaining pressure in the late innings to take their road series.

The Mountaineers (24-8, 10-5 Big 12) managed 18 hits, four of them from designated hitter Sean Smith; six more Mountaineers managed two hits. West Virginia secured a 2-0 lead in the first inning courtesy of a Matt Ineich double, a Paul Schoenfeld triple, and a Smith single. Brock Wills knocked in another run with a groundout the following inning.

Benefitting from that early cushion, Mountaineers’ starter Chansen Cole pitched eight innings on 112 pitches, striking out four batters and allowing a pair of runs. Head coach Steve Sabins gave the sophomore right-hander a chance to finish the game, leaving him in for the first two batters of the ninth inning, but a single and a hit batter sent Cole to the dugout. Sabins’ confidence in his young arm came, in part, from the massive lead the Mountaineers nursed.

West Virginia’s offense erupted in the late innings, tacking on three runs in the eighth and sending all nine batters to the plate in a four-run rally the following frame. The Mountaineers kept the line moving with singles and walks, building their lead to 10-2 in methodical fashion and giving Texas Tech’s high-powered offense little hope of a comeback. Ben McDougal spelled Cole, allowing an inherited runner to score, then Sabins brought in Ian Korn to seal the win.

Up next, WVU Baseball will travel to Meritus Park in Hagerstown, Md. to face Penn State in a neutral site rivalry matchup.