MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On the cusp of suffering a home sweep, West Virginia found its comeback mojo with a four-run, two-out eighth-inning rally and beat Kansas State 5-4 in Sunday’s series finale.
Darius Hill’s infield hit scored the go-ahead run after pinch hitter Braden Zarbnisky slapped a full-count, two-run single into shallow left field.
“That’s usually Shaun Wood’s pinch-hit situation, and it would’ve been Wood there if we needed an extra-base hit because he’s the stronger guy,” said Mountaineers coach Randy Mazey. “But when you just need a single, that’s what Zarb can do. The way he’s running as he’s swinging, he can hit it wherever the holes are. It’s really hard to play defense against Zarb.”
West Virginia (18-16, 5-6 Big 12) was four outs away from a debilitating sweep at the hands of the conference’s last-place team before the late uprising against K-State closer Lucas Benenati (1-2), who inherited two runners and a 4-1 lead.
After Cole Austin’s single loaded the bases, Kyle Gray drew a full-count walk to make it 4-2. That’s when Mazey tabbed freshman Zarbnisky to bat for shortstop Jimmy Gaulsky, who was in a 3-for-19 funk.
“We talked about today being a pride game,” Mazey said. “And I think a resilient win like that showed we have it.”
K-State (16-20, 3-9), trying to sweep a Big 12 series for the first time in three years, led 4-0 in the sixth before first-time league starter Corey Fischer allowed Ray Guerrini’s two-out RBI double.
BJ Meyers (4-3) recovered from Josh Rolette’s three-run shot in the fourth inning to retire 13 of the next 15 K-State batters. The sophomore left after eight innings of eight-hit, five-strikeout pitching to set up Blake Smith’s fourth save.
“BJ has come a long way with his maturity,” Mazey said. “Usually people have to settle him down, but today he settled everyone else down.”
With four Big 12 series remaining, West Virginia stands 5 1/2 games back of frontrunner Texas Tech and 2 1/2 ahead of K-State on the bottom. Only the last-place team is excluded from the conference tournament.