WVU Baseball Sweeps Big 12-Leading Kansas in Lawrence

WVU Baseball swept their road series with the No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks on Sunday, May 10, pulling ahead 13-2 in the eighth inning to complete a run rule victory.

The No. 15 Mountaineers (35-12, 19-8 Big 12) blew the game open with six runs in the sixth, opening a 9-2 lead on a bases-clearing double from center fielder Paul Schoenfeld and Sean Smith’s subsequent RBI single. The win closes the Mountaineers within one game of the top spot in the Big 12 with three games remaining in the regular season; they’ll need to win one more game than Kansas in the final weekend in order to secure a share of the regular season conference title.

West Virginia leapt ahead 1-0 with two outs in the second; Armani Guzman tripled, then came home on a Brodie Kresser single. The Jayhawks retaliated with a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame, but the Mountaineers responded with the critical next run as they did all series. Gavin Kelly reached on a fielding error the following inning, and Smith crushed a home run to left-center to make it 3-2.

Bassinger Shoves

Reese Bassinger took over for starting pitcher Dawson Montesa to start the fourth inning, Montesa already at 80 pitches as he struggled with command. Bassinger finished the game, blowing through five scoreless innings on 70 pitches and preserving the Mountaineers’ narrow lead until it became an onslaught.

Tyrus Hall narrowly missed a grand slam in the seventh, doubling off the wall to plate two runs, and a Smith RBI triple and a Kresser sacrifice fly pushed the lead to 13-2, triggering the run rule at the end of the eighth.

WVU Baseball will host TCU (31-18, 15-11 Big 12) at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 14 to begin their final regular season series; the Jayhawks will take on BYU (25-25, 13-14 Big 12) in Provo.