West Virginia Sweeps Baylor

The Mountaineer bats remain hot and bury the Bears

West Virginia sophomore Benjamin Lumsden. / Christopher Hall

Granville, WV – The West Virginia Mountaineers (26-16, 14-7) completed the sweep of the Baylor Bears (19-23, 9-12) with a 13-4 decision Sunday afternoon, marking the third the third sweep of the season – all coming in Big 12 Conference play.

Last weekend, Texas Tech swept the Mountaineers in Lubbock after producing a total of seven runs for the series, their lowest series output of the season. However, West Virginia outscored Baylor 36-11.

“We made them eager to get in [the batter box]. We didn’t sugarcoat it last weekend – we were awful,” said West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey. “Sometimes that’s what you need, everybody needs a good slap in the face occasionally to wake you up and that’s what that sweep last weekend did.’

“Baylor threw some good arms at us, and we weren’t the same team this weekend as we were last weekend, so those sweeps can serve you well if you approach it right,”

Baylor jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning after senior Cole Posey hit a two-run home run.

West Virginia junior Grant Hussey responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run off the scoreboard in left centerfield.

Cole Posey reclaimed the Baylor lead in the fourth with a solo home run and the Bears added to their lead in the fifth following a sacrifice RBI from redshirt junior Enzo Apodaca.

West Virginia junior Aidan Major tosses a pitch against Baylor. Major went 5.2 innings and had five strikeouts on the afternoon to pick up his fourth of the season. /

West Virginia took the lead in the bottom of the fifth with junior Kyle West hitting the wall in right centerfield for an RBI double before junior Brodie Kresser was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for an RBI and sophomore Benjamin Lumsden put the ball in play, although it turned into a double play, but brought a run in for a three-run fifth inning and a 5-4 lead.

The Mountaineers broke the game open with a five-run seventh inning. Lumsden singled to right field with the bases loaded for an RBI and Baylor senior reliever Kobe Andrade beaned sophomore Skylar King for an RBI and junior JJ Wetherholt was walked for an RBI before sophomore Logan Suave hit a ground ball to second for a fielder’s choice RBI but an errant throw for the double play was wide and brought in another Mountaineer run for a 10-4 advantage.

West Virginia tacked on three runs in the eighth inning after Lumsden hit an RBI double and Skylar King doubled down the right field line for a pair of RBIs as the Mountaineers cruised to a 13-4 victory.

The Mountaineers are back in action Tuesday night as they travel north to take on the rival Pitt Panthers at PNC Park for the Backyard Brawl. The first pitch is set for 7:05 and the action will broadcast on ESPN2.