BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Kyle Gray homered for the third time in two days, Kade Strowd pitched into the sixth inning and West Virginia completed a three-game sweep by capitalizing on Western Kentucky miscues during a 7-1 victory Sunday.
The Mountaineers (5-5) scored runs on a passed ball, a wild pitch and two more on an error.
“We really needed to come down here and do this this weekend to give us some confidence,” West Virginia coach Randy Mazey said. “It makes the bus ride home a lot better.”
The Hilltoppers (5-7) managed only six hits to culminate a winless weekend on the heels of a one-run loss at No. 7 Kentucky.
“We knew going in this was the tough stretch of the season, when you play at Kentucky and then host West Virginia for four games against schools that are in the Power Five,” said Western Kentucky coach John Pawlowski. “But that’s what we wanted to do, schedule tough games against good teams.”
Darius Hill’s first-inning RBI double put WVU ahead to stay, followed by a three-run uprising in the fourth on only one hit.
Kevin Brophy added a sac-fly in the fifth.
Gray’s fourth home run of the season made it 6-1 in the ninth, before a wild pitch gifted Wes Virginia’s final run.
Strowd (1-1) allowed one run on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. The bullpen trio of cody Wood, Shane Ennis and Sam Kessler followed with 3 1/3 innings of two-hits.
Andrew Zitel’s fifth-inning single extended his career-long hitting streak to seven games.