LAWRENCE, Kan. — Freshmen Marques Inman and Jimmy Galusky delivered three-hit games and Jeff Hardy stunted a slugfest by getting the final 11 outs for his first save a West Virginia downed Kansas 11-6 on Saturday to clinch the weekend series.
“When they doused me with the Gatorade, I thought they were mad at me, because I don’t keep up with stuff like that,” said coach Randy Mazey, who earned his 100th win at West Virginia. “I’m just proud of these guys. We’ve been through a little bit of a grind here, travel-wise and with a four-game losing streak. We had every opportunity to be down on ourselves coming into the weekend.”
The Mountaineers (12-8, 2-3 Big 12) collected 15 hits in covering for a poor start by left-hander Ross Vance, who lasted 2 2/3 innings while giving up four runs on six hits.
Inman’s RBI single gave WVU a 2-1 lead in the third before KC Huth singled in another run and Ray Guerrini executed a squeeze-bunt.
The Jayhawks (7-13, 0-2) retaliated with three runs to equalize it in the bottom of the third, but with Kansas starter Jackson Goddard lifted, WVU pushed across the go-ahead run in the fourth on Darius Hill’s two-out RBI double against Blake Goldsberry.
Inman, who struck out twice Friday while looking badly fooled on changeups, hit a leadoff double to spark a two-run fifth off Goldsberry (0-3).
“Marques Inman got embarrassed (Friday) as much as you can get embarrassed at the plate,” Mazey said. “But we threw him back in the lineup today as the DH and he’s just smashing balls all over the field. The guy had a chance to get down on himself and didn’t do it.”
After the Jayhawks scored once in the fifth and again in the sixth against Conner Dotson (4-1), Hardy came on and shut the door. He allowed two hits over 3 2/3 innings while striking out six.
“You sit down there and you’re waiting for your turn, and you could not pitch for a week,” Hardy said. “So you have to be ready to get out there and when you can make the most of it and get an opportunity to help the team, you have to go do that.”