Long Ball Attack Continues In WVU’s Sunday Win Over Kansas

Four home runs? That was nothing. After setting its 2022 game high in round trippers on Saturday, West Virginia smacked five on Sunday, including three consecutive shots in the fifth inning, to power a 10-8 win over Kansas and a 2-1 series win.

WVU needed them all, as Kansas (18-26, 3-12) hit two of their own, including a three-run moon shot from Caleb Upshaw in the bottom of the ninth to cut the deficit to two. The Jayhawks got a walk to bring the potential tying run to the plate, but WVU reliever Trey Braithwaite earned a two-pitch save, his sixth of the year, by inducing a pop-up to end the game.

The back-to-back-to-back homers turned a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead midway through the game, and all came with two out, as McGwire Holbrook, Nathan Blasick and Braden Barry cleared the fence in left center, right and and left fields respectively. Holbrook’s hit just cleared the wall, while the blasts of Blasick and Barry were well over 400 feet.

Coupled with a pair of two-run taters — Grant Hussey’s in the seventh and Barry’s in the ninth — WVU accounted for seven of its 10 runs with the long ball.

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West Virginia appeared poised for a big inning in the first when it loaded the bases with a pair of walks on either side of a flared double from JJ Wetherholt, but the Mountaineers managed to score just one run on McGwire Holbrook’s double play groundout. It added another in the second when Mikey Kluska scored on a dropped popup off the glove of KU second baseman Tavian Josenberger.

The Jayhawks, as they did all weekend, responded, scoring four runs over the next two innings to grab a 4-2 lead. WVU, though, posted six runs in its next three at-bats, including the triple-header homer show, an Austin Davis RBI double and Hussey’s smooth-swing long ball, to take a three-run lead into the ninth.

The fireworks were far from over, though. After Barry’s two-run laser shot appeared to have delivered the coup de grace for WVU in the ninth, Kansas leaped off life support status with Upshaw’s bomb, but Braithwaite got the final out to give the Mountaineers (26-16, 9-6) the series win.

Until giving up the ninth-inning homer, WVU reliever Noah Short was ultra-efficient, having retired eight KU hitters on just 22 pitches. Zach Ottinger (2-1) got the win with his 2.1 innings of work in relief of starter Zach Bravo.

SEAMS AND BARRELS

WVU does not have a mid-week game scheduled prior to its home series with Texas this weekend, but head coach Randy Mazey said efforts to get one on the slate continue.

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West Virginia continues to battle to get consistent starting pitching, as encouraging efforts have been interspersed with some rocky showings. It’s unlikely that Jacob Watters or Ben Hampton, the Friday and Saturday starters, are moving anywhere, but might Chris Sleeper, who started a couple of games at the beginning of the season, get another shot at the Sunday spot?

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While the wind was not howling as it was in the first two games of the series, it still provided some challenges on Sunday. Both teams saw tall popups fall safely between fielders that appeared to have the ball surrounded, and just about any ball to the outfield was difficult to judge.

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The teams combined for 24 hits, with 13 of those going for extra bases. Seven of Kansas’ nine leadoff hitters reached base.