WVU Rebounds in Second Round

Jun 3, 2023

LEXINGTON, KY—We don’t know if West Virginia baseball coach Randy Mazey used Winston Churchill’s famous quote “Never, never, never give up” to inspire his Mountaineer team (40-19) but something worked Saturday afternoon as WVU rebounded with a solid 13-5 victory over Ball State in the NCAA Regional second round eliminating the Cardinals.

The Mountaineers hit four home runs to end their six game skid and stay alive in the 2023 tournament. WVU lost Friday night in the opening game 12-6 in what was a close game until Indiana scored five runs with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth. The Mountaineers looked like the team of earlier this spring when they pounded out 13 hits en route to a convincing win against the Cardinals. WVU sophomore JJ Wetherholt went 3 for 5 with 4 rbi’s and a home run to center. Wetherholt connected in the third inning with a three run homer to give the Mountaineers a 3-1 lead. It was his 16th homer of the year.

Ball State scored 4 runs in the bottom of the third to go ahead 5-3. The Cardinal’s lead didn’t last long as WVU scored four in the top of the fourth to go up 7-5. Dayne Leonard and Logan Sauve smacked homers to reclaim the lead.Grant Hussey added some insurance in the seventh with a long bomb to expand the lead to 8-5. Just like Indiana did last night to WVU, the Mountaineers broke the game wide open in the ninth with a five run inning.

The Mountaineers will play Kentucky Sunday at noon. The Hoosiers beat No. 1 seed Kentucky 5-3 Saturday night to advance. Let’s hope the Mountaineers can take out our neighbors to the west so that we can get a shot at redemption against Indiana.