GRANVILLE, W.Va. — A pair of sixth-inning rallies on Saturday put West Virginia in position to sweep its first home series of the season Sunday afternoon.
The Mountaineers earned a doubleheader sweep of Kent State, winning the first game 6-2 before downing the Golden Flashes 8-4 in the nightcap.
Kent State (4-9) kept the Mountaineers (8-5) off the scoreboard for the first five innings of both games before the Mountaineers struck in the sixth.
In Game 1, Darius Hill broke up Kent State starter Connor Wollersheim’s no-hit bid with a two-run triple that chased Wollersheim (0-3) from the game.
Alex Manoah (2-1) picked up the win, striking out 12 Golden Flashes in 7 2/3 innings. Kent State scored a pair of runs in the eighth to cut WVU’s lead to 3-2, but the Mountaineers added insurance in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back RBI singles from Paul McIntosh and Brandon White.
The Flashes appeared on their way to earning a split, jumping out to a 4-0 lead midway through Game 2. WVU pitchers Jackson Wolf and Beau Lowery each surrendered a pair of runs.
The Mountaineers rallied yet again in the bottom of the sixth, wiping out the deficit with a five-run inning. RBI singles from Hill and Marques Inman set the table for Paul McIntosh to put WVU ahead with a three-run opposite-field home run off the right field foul pole.
West Virginia broke the game open with three more runs in the eighth. Inman tripled home Hill before he was replaced by pinch runner Austin Davis, who scored on Ivan Gonzalez’s RBI single. The Mountaineers added their final run when Gonzalez scrambled home on a wild pitch.
Gabe Kurtzhals (1-0) was the winner, allowing one walk in his two innings of work. Zach Reid picked up his first save, finishing off the final 1 1/3 innings. John Matthews (0-4) was the loser.
The Mountaineers will go for the series sweep Sunday at 1 p.m.