West Virginia Allows Seven Runs in the Sixth Inning and Falls to Penn State

The Mountaineers drop a midweek matchup to rival Penn State

State College, PA - West Virginia held a 6-1 lead through five and a half innings before Penn State put together a seven-run sixth inning and added three more runs in the seventh to crush as the Nittany Lions (18-11) pounded the Mountaineers (23-10) with an 11-6 decision Tuesday night. 

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"It was pretty simple; we had a 6-1 lead and couldn't throw the ball over the plate and couldn't throw it to each out - just a terrible inning," said WVU head coach Randy Mazey. 

West Virginia sophomore J.J. Wetherholt started the game with a double and Landon Wallace scored him with a single into right field. 

West Virginia added two more runs in the second when Braden Barry and Sam White hit consecutive one-out singles to set up a RBI fielder's choice from Logan Sauve. Then, Tevin Tucker singles to put runners at the corners and a wild pitch scored Sauve as the Mountaineers extended their lead 3-0 through two innings. 

A pair of Mountaineer were beaned by Penn State starting pitcher Ben DeMell and Dayne Leonard singled in between the two to load the bases before Braden Barry hit a groundball in the infield but beat out the throw on an attempted double play to put another run in the board in the third. 

West Virginia left fielder Landon Wallace smacks an RBI single in the top of the first inning.
Christopher Hall - Sports Illustrated: FanNation - Mountaineers Now

In the top of the fourth and with one out and runners at the corners, Landon Wallace lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield to push the lead to 5-0.  

The Nittany Lions produced their first run in the bottom half of the inning following a leadoff single from Thomas Bramley and Josh Spiegel delivered a one out single before Bobby Marsh smacked an RBI double to right field. 

West Virginia extended its lead back to five after Tevin Tucker doubled and took third on a throwing error before Wetherholt brought him home with a sac fly to centerfield. 

The Mountaineers fell apart in the bottom of the sixth, in an inning where head coach Randy Mazey called on five Mountaineer relievers that, in total, hit two Penn State batters, and walked two more while giving up a double and a pair of single, while, defensively, committed a pair of errors put up a seven-run sixth inning as the Nittany Lions captured their first lead 8-6. 

Penn State added three more runs in the seventh after a leadoff home run from Jay Harry 

West Virginia put a combined four base runners in the seventh and eighth inning but came away with a run before Steven Miller struck out the side in the ninth. 

"It was deflating to give up seven runs without them hitting the ball much. The bullpens been good for us, they just let us down tonight," concluded Mazey.

West Virginia will head back on the road to Stillwater for a three-game Big 12 Conference series versus the Oklahoma State Cowboys with game one set for Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. EST. 

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Christopher Hall
CHRISTOPHER HALL

Member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.