West Virginia Drops Series Opener to Kansas

Mountaineers endure second consecutive loss

Lawrence, KS - The West Virginia Mountaineers (24-16, 7-6) suffered their second consecutive loss to a sub .500 team following a 7-3 decision in the series opener against the Kansas Jayhawks (18-24, 3-10) Friday evening. 

Kansas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Tavian Josenberger and Dylan Ditzenberger hit consecutive singles into centerfield to begin the bottom half of the frame. The two advanced on a wild pitch before Maui Ahuna scored Josenberger on a sacrifice groundball over to short. Then, Caleb Upshaw singled through the right side, scoring Ditzenberger. 

The Jayhawks put up three runs in the fourth after Cooper McMurray hit a leadoff home run, and Nolan Metcalf delivered a two-out two RBI double down the leftfield line, extending the lead, 5-0. 

West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey / Christopher Hall - Sports Illustrated: West Virginia

In the fifth, back-to-back one-out singles from Tevin Tucker and Austin Davis set up an RBI single from Victor Scott to produce West Virginia's first run of the game. 

Ryan Callahan drew a leadoff walk from West Virginia starting pitcher Jacob Watters in the bottom of the inning, generating another Jayhawk run when McMurray hit an unassisted groundball over to first while Callahan, stealing second, took third before Sergio Rivera hit a slow roller down the third base line for a single, scoring Callahan and extending the lead back to five, 6-1. 

West Virginia right fielder Austin Davis saved at least one run in the seventh, laying out and snaring the second out of the inning on a deep fly ball from McMurray, but the play resulted in an RBI with Upshaw scoring from third.

Dayne Leonard hit a two-run home run in the eighth to cut into the Jayhawk lead, but Daniel Hegarty tossed his second Big 12 Conference win of the season and claimed Kansas' third league win of season with a 7-3 decision. 

West Virginia will look to even the series in game two Saturday, with the first pitch scheduled for 3:00 pm. The series finale is set for Sunday at 1:00 pm. All games are streaming on ESPN+.

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