RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Starters Harrison Musgrave and Sean Carley combined for 13 shutout innings as West Virginia downed Sacramento State 8-1 on Saturday afternoon before edging UC-Riverside 2-1 in the late game.
The Mountaineers (7-4), winners of five straight, will complete the weekend set Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern with another game against UC-Riverside (7-7).
Ryan Broom hit his team-leading fourth homer in the opener and later singled in a run, giving him 16 RBIs. Justin Fox raised his average to .370 by collecting three hits and added two RBIs.
That was ample support for Musgrave (3-0), who fanned six in six innings while scattering three hits. Musgrave has not allowed a run in his last 16 innings, dropping his earned run average to 1.78.
After Ryan Hoftstrander walked two batters in the seventh leading to the lone run for Sacramento State (7-8), Michael Bennett needed only 22 pitches to close out the final 2 2/3 innings.
In the nightcap, Carley (2-0) allowed four hits and four walks while striking out three. He lowered his ERA to 0.67.
UC-Riverside starter Ben Doucette (0-2) allowed only one run while striking out six in five innings. The Mountaineers scored in the third as Taylor Munden doubled down the left-field line and scored on a two-out single by Billy Fleming, who .405 average leads the lineup.
WVU made it 2-0 in the ninth on Bobby Boyd’s RBI ground-out—insurance that came in handy when UC Riverside pushed across a run against Pascal Paul in the bottom of the ninth.