6:00: Morning News

Mountaineers take twinbill to sweep Jayhawks

BECKLEY, W.Va. — Dan Dierdorff threw the second complete game in consecutive days for West Virginia, lifting the Mountaineers to a 4-3 series-clinching win over Kansas on Saturday afternoon.

WVU (27-18, 9-6 Big 12) completed the three-game sweep of the Jayhawks (25-18, 9-8) later Saturday with a 3-2 win in 12 innings.

After a rough start, Dierdorff (3-5) settled down to scatter seven hits while striking out six and issuing one walk. The senior right-hander retired 13 consecutive batters between the fourth and seventh innings.

Wes Benjamin (4-5) threw a complete game for the Jayhawks, allowing four runs, one earned, on four hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Benjamin did not allow a hit in his final six innings.

Brady Wilson went 2-for-4 with a run, while Billy Fleming had a three-run double to lead WVU.

The Mountaineers loaded the bases in the first with two outs and Fleming continued his torrid hitting pace with a bases-clearing double to the left center field wall to give WVU a 3-0 lead.

After Kansas scored two in the top of the second, WVU catcher Alan Filauro hit a first-pitch leadoff home run to bring the lead to 4-2. The opposite-field blast was the fourth of the season for Filauro.

Kansas cut the WVU lead to 4-3 in the top of the third with a pair of doubles by Michael Suiter and Alex DeLeon.

WVU 3, Kansas 2 (12)

Filauro’s 12-inning walkoff single gave West Virginia its first Big 12 sweep.

Ryan McBroom was hit by a pitch to start the 12th and moved to second on a groundout. After Justin Fox walked and Jacob Rice lined out to second base, Filauro laced the game-winning single to left field off KU’s Jordan Piche.

Corey Walter pitched the final four shutout innings for WVU, pitching around two hits and two hit batters.

Ryan Tuntland’s sac-fly after a Taylor Munden triple staked WVU to a 1-0 lead in the first, and the Mountaineers added a second run in the fourth on Fleming’s sac-fly.

Kansas got to WVU starter John Means for two runs in the seventh. Means lasted 7 1/3 walk-free innings allowing seven hits and striking out seven.







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