GRANVILLE, W.Va. — Wind often aids hitters in their quest for power at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
While that was not the case Wednesday when West Virginia welcomed Penn State, one could hardly tell.
The Mountaineers hit six home runs, including three in a six-run first inning as their offense led the way in an 18-7 seven-inning win against Penn State before a crowd of 3,748.
“This game was about practice yesterday. We had a great practice yesterday and kind of went back to some fundamental stuff offensively that we’d kind of got away from,” West Virginia coach Randy Mazey said. “Kudos to our players — they committed to what we were trying to teach them in practice yesterday and carried it over into the game, which isn’t all that easy to do. You live and die by the homer I guess with this team. We hit some this past weekend, but we didn’t pitch well enough to overcome it.”
Making his first career start on the mound, freshman Chase Meyer overcame two walks to work a scoreless first, and when he came back out to pitch the second, the Mountaineers (29-18) were in complete control.
Logan Sauve hit the first pitch thrown by Penn State (21-21) starter Mason Butash over the wall in left-center field, and it was a sign of things to come.
West Virginia’s first seven batters went on to reach, including JJ Wetherholt on a single, while consecutive base-on-balls created a bases loaded opportunity for Sam White, who singled to left to drive in a pair.
Grant Hussey worked the third walk of the inning and Brodie Kresser immediately followed with a grant slam to left-center for a 7-0 advantage.
“The guys on our team have unbelievable juice. We have guys that can hit the ball far,” Kresser said. “I’m not one of them, but I guess I can run into it. Even if it is windy, our guys can put the ball in the air and make it fly. It’s pretty cool to see.”
Butash was relieved by Ben DeMell after recording his first and only out, but DeMell’s outing began in the same fashion as that of the Nittany Lions’ starter, with Skylar King connecting for a home run into the right field bullpen to make it 8-0.
The Mountaineers wasted no time adding to their advantage in their second trip to the plate, which began with Reed Chumley’s 427-foot home run off the scoreboard — his team-leading 13th long ball of the season.
White followed with a home run of his own to right, which made it three home runs against DeMell in a six-batter span.
Kresser’s single and a Ben Lumsden double allowed WVU to add to its comfortable advantage later in the second as the home team plated separate runs on a King sacrifice fly and Sauve single to leave PSU with a 12-0 deficit.
“I know one thing — we’ll take the field Friday with confidence,” Mazey said.
However, the Nittany Lions broke through in a big way offensively in the third to put a scare into WVU.
During that frame, PSU amassed five of its nine hits, and utilized a Bobby Marsh single to bring in its first run, before Tayven Kelley brought in a pair with a single to right-center. That marked the end of Meyer’s outing, which covered eight outs. He was replaced by Bryce Amos, who faced three hitters and failed to record an out as the Nittany Lions drew closer by scoring a fourth run on a wild pitch, two on Joe Jaconski’s single and again on a J.T. Marr single that trimmed the WVU advantage to five.
“We needed a game just like this,” Mazey said. “We didn’t need them to score seven in one inning, but we needed some guys to start swinging the bat and it’s good to see that, and we needed some guys that pitched to pitch.”
Any thought of PSU coming closer to completing a rally, however, was largely put to rest in the home half of that inning as the Mountaineers scored three runs with two outs — one each on Hussey’s double, Kresser’s single and Lumsden’s single, all of which came off Will Perkowski.
West Virginia got its sixth and final home run in the fourth when Wetherholt belted a 439-foot shot to right that made it 16-7.
“The reason this is not an easy park to hit home runs in is because the wind is swirling a lot sometimes,” Wetherholt said. “With no wind, it’s a normal park and the ball carries and it doesn’t get affected. Pretty much all of us have enough power to get it out to any field, but when wind is blowing in a certain direction, it kills homers. No wind is perfectly fine with me.”
Ellis Garcia, pinch-hitting for King, made the most of his opportunity in the fifth and drove in two with a double that pushed the lead back to double figures.
After Tommy Beam worked a scoreless fifth and sixth, Aidan Smith followed suit in the seventh, enabling WVU to finish off the victory early as a result of a 10-run mercy rule.
In addition to driving in five runs, Kresser was 4-for-4.
“We really emphasize on hitting off speed up the middle and hitting balls up the middle. The middle is where you make your money and you’re going to win a lot of games when you hit up the middle,” Kresser said. “I didn’t change too much. Kept my approach and saw it well.”
Wetherholt added three hits and Sauve, White, Hussey and Lumsden had two apiece in what marked the Mountaineers’ ninth straight home win (their last home loss came back on March 30 against Oklahoma State).
“We couldn’t do that if it wasn’t for the fans and people in the community,” Mazey said. “Asterisk on those last nine wins for the atmosphere the community has created.”
Meyer was credited with the win after allowing five runs in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked five.
Maxx Yehl threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings and was the first of three consecutive WVU relievers to log a scoreless outing.
Butash fell to 1-4 after being charged with seven runs.
The matchup marked either the fourth or fifth to last home game for Mazey, who will retire at the conclusion of this season.
WVU is set to welcome Kansas State for a three-game series starting Friday and is attempting to add what would be a final home game for Mazey on Tuesday.
“You guys keep reminding me and so does my wife. I don’t want this to be about me,” Mazey said. “If it becomes about me, that’ll be a huge distraction. I want it to be about the kids, the fans and the community and just do what we do. When I’ve coached my last game, it can be about me because it doesn’t affect this year’s team anymore. As long as this team is playing and playing well and has a chance to do something, it needs to be about them.”