RICHMOND, Va. — Thirteen was West Virginia’s lucky number for the second straight day as the Mountaineer baseball team pounded Richmond for a 13-1 win on Sunday afternoon.
West Virginia took two of three in this weekend’s Central Virginia Challenge. The Mountaineers clubbed William & Mary 13-4 on Saturday, bouncing back from a 4-1 loss to VCU to open the tournament on Friday.
West Virginia tallied 17 hits in the win over the Spiders, including six extra-base hits. In all, five players finished with multi-hit performances. The Mountaineers scored four runs in the first, one in the third, four in the fourth, two in the seventh and two in the ninth.
“From the first pitch, we were on the ball today,” WVU coach Randy Mazey said. “When a couple guys get hits, then other guys feel like they have to keep up by swinging the ball. It was a really good day, not just hitting, but pitching and defense, too. That was our best game of the year, for sure.”
For the second consecutive game, West Virginia (7-4) jumped on the opposition early.
After redshirt senior outfielder Braden Zarbnisky and sophomore right fielder Austin Davis began the game with base hits, junior infielder Tyler Doanes registered an RBI single through the left side of the infield to make it 1-0. Davis finished the game 4-for-4 with three runs and two stolen bases.
From there, senior infielder Kevin Brophy brought home another run with an RBI double, before junior catcher Paul McIntosh crushed a two-run homer to left. McIntosh finished the game a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs and three RBI. He was a triple shy of the cycle.
Freshman left-handed pitcher Jake Carr allowed a run in the bottom of the first, cutting the Mountaineer lead to 4-1. After that, the St. Albans native was solid, limiting the Richmond offense to just one run on three hits through 6 innings of work. WVU turned one of its two defensive double plays of the day to get Carr (2-1) out of a first-inning jam and maintain the early lead.
The Spiders (2-9) were hitless against Carr after the first inning.
Freshman first baseman Matt McCormick provided the Mountaineers with late insurance, clubbing a two-run homer to cap off the scoring in the top of the ninth.
“We just showed ourselves what we are capable of,” Mazey said. “We’re capable of scoring four or five runs in any inning because we can do a lot of things on offense. It was really good to see how we played today.”
The Mountaineers return home to take on Kent State on Wednesday. First pitch at Monongalia County Ballpark is set for 4 p.m. ET, and admission is free for all fans.