MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Behind John Means’ quality pitching and a lineup that banged out 14 hits, West Virginia beat James Madison 5-1 on Sunday to cap a three-game sweep at the Caravelle Resort Tournament.
The Mountaineers (5-4) climbed above .500 for the first time, nearly half-way through their string of 20 road games to open the season.
The starting pitching has been stellar, with seven quality starts in nine games. Means (2-1) delivered another one by holding JMU to one run on six hits over seven innings.
In this weekend’s event, West Virginia’s starters went 3-0 and allowed only three runs in 22 innings.
Means fanned and walked two, before Zach Bargeron and Corey Walter each threw a scoreless inning to close the game.
Five players had two hits apiece for West Virginia, which peppered James Madison starter Chris Huffman (2-1) for five runs on 13 hits.
The Mountaineers opened the scoring in the third. Fleming hit a two-out single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score when Ryan McBroom poked a ball through the right side.
WVU made it 3-0 in the fourth with another two-out rally. Cam O’Brien scored from third on a single by Michael Constantini, who stole second and was driven in by Taylor Munden’s double.
Bobby Boyd’s seventh-inning double scored Munden to make it 4-1. Though Boyd was thrown out trying to extend the hit into a triple, the Mountaineers added another run when Jacob Rice singled home Fleming.
Kevin Husum and Ty McFarland led the Dukes with two hits apiece.
WVU will return to California for the second time this season next weekend for two games at UC Riverside and one game against Sacramento State.