West Virginia is in command of the Tucson Regional with an opportunity to win it Sunday.
For the second straight day, the Mountaineers rode a left-handed pitcher to victory. This time, West Virginia got 7 2/3 strong innings from Tyler Switalski to lead the way in a 5-2 win over Grand Canyon on Saturday night at Hi Corbett Field.
No. 3 West Virginia now awaits the winner of No. 2 Dallas Baptist-No. 4 Grand Canyon in Sunday’s 3 p.m. elimination game. The winner will have to defeat the Mountaineers (35-22)twice starting at 9 p.m. Sunday. If needed, a winner-take-all necessary game for the regional championship would be played Monday.
DBU staved off elimination by defeating top seed Arizona, 7-0, earlier Saturday.
One day after a masterful complete game four-hitter from southpaw Derek Clark paved the way in a 4-1 victory against DBU, Switalski threw more than five innings for the first time this season.
He was hardly threatened throughout by the Lopes, who scored their lone run in the second on an Eddy Pelc sacrifice fly, which followed a pair of singles earlier in the inning.
That gave Grand Canyon (35-24) a brief lead, though West Virginia drew even in the home half of that inning. Reed Chumley hit a leadoff single, stole second and scored with two outs on a Brodie Kresser single.
After Switalski retired GCU in order in the third and fourth innings, the Mountaineers gained control with a four-run third, capitalizing on a pair of base-on-balls and a hit batsman. Kresser’s two-run single made it 3-1, and Ben Lumsden followed with an infield single to score Michael Perazza.
B4 | Lopes 1, Mountaineers 3
Brodie comes through again!#HailWV pic.twitter.com/7QVaSFvHj0
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) June 2, 2024
A fielder’s choice to third from Skylar King allowed Kresser to score the final run of that inning.
That was all the offense the Mountaineers could muster, but Switalski worked around Pelc’s fifth-inning single by inducing an inning-ending double play off the bat of Alton Gylesman.
West Virginia turned a third and final double play to end the sixth inning, and ended the top of the seventh with Grant Hussey making a highlight-worthy catch just before entering the dugout on a pop up hit by Beau Ankeney.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME HUSS!!
Second day in a row he goes into the dugout to make the catch!#SCTop10 | @Grant_Hussey616 pic.twitter.com/19FRpr1zJP
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) June 2, 2024
Switalski surrendered two singles around recording two outs in the eighth and was removed for Hambleton Oliver.
Tyler Wilson hit a well-struck fly ball to right to greet Oliver, but it was hauled in by Lumsden to end GCU’s half of the eighth.
The Mountaineers stranded two in scoring position in the eighth and then had to survive tense moments in the ninth.
Oliver allowed consecutive singles to start the inning and after a strikeout, Dustin Crenshaw hit a single through the right side to bring in his team’s second run.
When Michael Diaz followed with a single, it made it four hits in five batters against Oliver, but he induced a Pelc pop up to shortstop JJ Wetherholt with the tying run on base.
Oliver was then lifted for Carson Estridge, who retired Marcus Galvan on a ground ball to short on his first and only pitch.
Switalski struck out three, walked one and held GCU to six hits while improving to 5-2.
Estridge secured his fourth save of the season.
Kresser led the offensive charge with two hits and three RBI.
Connor Madison, the second of four Lopes pitchers utilized, suffered the loss after allowing four runs in two innings.