West Virginia Sweeps Kansas
The Mountaineers came out swinging in the series finale, hitting six home runs to bury the Jayhawks
Lawrence, KS – The West Virginia Mountaineers (19-12, 8-4) put up 16 runs in the series finale to complete the sweep of the Kansas Jayhawks (15-14, 7-8) Sunday afternoon, 16-9.
West Virginia grabbed an early 3-0 lead when, with two outs, Kansas starting pitcher junior Shaw walked a pair of Mountaineers and Kyle West followed with an RBI single to centerfield. Next, Shaw walked junior Grant Hussey to load the bases before beaning two Mountaineers to bring in two runs for the three-run advantage.
West Virginia senior Reed Chumley registered an RBI single in the second and sophomore Logan Sauve followed suit in the third inning, but Kansas responded in the bottom of both frames to tie the game at five. Freshman Ty Wisdom smacked a two-run home run in the second and, in the third, redshirt junior Michael Brooks ripped a two-RBI double and senior Lenny Ashby hit an RBI sacrifice groundball to even the game.
After Chumley regained the lead in the fourth with a solo home run, Ashby squeezed a two-RBI single through the left side in the bottom of the inning to give the Jayhawks their first lead of the afternoon, 7-6.
The Mountaineers reclaimed the lead in the fifth after Sauve went opposite field with an RBI single to right field, sophomore Sam White followed with an RBI double down the leftfield line and Chumley capped off the three-run fifth inning with a sacrifice RBI flyball to centerfield for a 9-7 WVU lead.
Kansas sophomore Kodey Shojinaga cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single to left field.
West Virginia sophomore JJ Wetherholt put the Mountaineers back up two with an RBI single through the left side on a hit run to go back up two but, again, Kansas responded in the bottom of the inning with consecutive doubles get within a run 10-9 through six.
Grant Hussey soloed in the seventh to extend the 11-9.
With the bases loaded and with one out in the bottom of the seventh, West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey called sophomore left-hander Max Yiehl from the bullpen and a 4-6-3 double play ended the inning.
West Virginia provided some cushion in the eighth with four consecutive home runs. Sauve started the onslaught recording his fourth and fifth RBI of the day with a deep two-run home run, finished the afternoon going 5-7 at the plate. Then, sophomore Sam White, Chumley hit his second of the day and Kyle West capped off the streak with his sixth home run of the season as West Virginia took a commanding 16-9 lead as Yiehl records the save, coming away unscathed in the final two innings, going 1-2-3 in the ninth as the Mountaineers take the series finale 16-9.