WVU Baseball Ties Program Record in Win Over Cincinnati

WVU Baseball put together a 5-4 comeback win over Cincinnati on Friday, their first ever matchup as joint members of the Big 12 conference.

They also tied a program record set last season in the process: one they will almost certainly break with almost 3 weeks to go in the regular season. The win marks West Virginia’s fifth in a row since an uncharacteristic sweep at the hands of Texas Tech, and the team seems to be finally firing on all cylinders once again.

Big opening game win for the Mountaineers. Ties most conference victories (15) in school history too! https://t.co/XInQdVcGYA

— John Antonik (@JohnAntonik) May 3, 2024

Sam White and Skylar King hit solo home runs in the second and third innings, respectively. Cincinnati got one back in the home half of the third against Mountaineers’ starter Hayden Cooper, then leapt in front with a two-run blast in the fifth inning.

In another sign that the Mountaineers are returning to form, superstar shortstop JJ Wetherholt stole a base for the first time since the opening series of the season, another milestone on the road to recovery after he dealt with a nagging hamstring injury. Eastern Panhandle native Kyle West wasted no time putting the Mountaineers back in front after Wetherholt’s stolen bag, crushing a two-run bomb of his own. White tacked on insurance with his second solo shot of the day to round out the frame, marking his second multi-homer game of the season.

Second multi-homer game of the season for Sam 🍁#HailWV | @samwhite116 pic.twitter.com/sfCZWDouSj

— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 3, 2024

Cincinnati pulled within a run following the seventh-inning stretch, but Carson Estridge secured the win with a four-out save.

WVU Baseball moves to 28-16 on the season (15-7 Big 12). That ties their program record for the most Big 12 wins in a single season, although the conference’s expansion plays as big a role in that as the Mountaineers’ success does.