The only thing that prevented West Virginia baseball from a potential 4-0 opening weekend was inclement weather, which wiped out the last of what was slated to be a four-game set at Jacksonville.
Otherwise, it was all positives for the Mountaineers. They won Friday’s season opener against the Dolphins 4-2, before claiming both games of a doubleheader Saturday, 10-3 and 3-2.
Among the more notable developments on opening weekend for West Virginia was strong pitching performances for a team that allowed only seven runs over three contests.
WVU’s three starting pitchers — Griffin Kirn, Robby Porco and Gavin Kempen — combined to throw 13 1/3 innings while allowing six hits and four runs, three of which were earned. The trio recorded 15 strikeouts against seven walks.
“On the first weekend, if you have an excellent weekend, your starters are able to go four innings. So we probably over-exceeded expectations as far as first time out being able to control the game,” WVU first-year head coach Steve Sabins said. “Each one of those guys left with the lead. If your starter can exit the game with the lead, you certainly put yourself in position to win the game.”
The Mountaineer bullpen more than did its part as well, logging 11 2/3 innings with three runs surrendered and 15 strikeouts for the weekend.
Reese Bassinger earned two saves, including in the series finale, when he recorded eight of 21 outs over a scoreless outing with four strikeouts. Bassinger, an experienced transfer from Tarleton State, was also credited with a save in the opener after recording the final two outs on one pitch.
“He is so confident and when he stands on the mound, it kind of oozes experience, freedom and having fun,” Sabins said. “Having him with the ball late in the game was a wonderful feeling.”
The lone game Bassinger didn’t pitch in over the weekend was the second game of the series and first of Saturday’s doubleheader, when West Virginia generated 10 of its 17 runs against the Dolphins, including six in the second inning.
Relief pitcher Carson Estridge provided a shutdown effort in that one, holding Jacksonville scoreless over the last 4 2/3 innings to go with four strikeouts.
In the event Game 4 had taken place Sunday, Sabins’ plan was to start right-handed freshman David Hagen and follow him with right-handed senior Tyler Hutson.
“We had built him up as a starter, so we said let’s start him and maybe he evolves into that opener role where you end up going one time through the lineup and handing the ball off to Tyler Hudson, a veteran player, and seeing how long he can go,” Sabins said. “Similar to what we did in Game 2 with Carson Estridge, where he had our second-longest outing of the weekend going 4.2 innings in relief. Kind of that long close or long relief kind of situation. But I’d be crazy not to mention Carson Estridge. He was excellent.”
Skylar King led the charge at the plate with six hits in 10 at bats, including a go-ahead two run home run in the series finale. King drove in five runs over the weekend as well.
Brodie Kresser added five hits and Logan Sauve four to go with three RBIs.
Winning three times in as many games allows WVU to gain confidence ahead of a three-game series at Lipscomb starting at 4 p.m. Friday.
That one victory came by one run and another by two runs also gave Sabins a look at his team in tight spots late.
As the first-year skipper works to best identify roles among certain personnel, he was afforded that luxury in pressure-packed spots both Friday and Saturday.
“In those games, it doesn’t matter how you slice it, one mental mistake or a few physical mistakes or a lack of focus, the Mountaineers could have been 1-2,” Sabins said. “That’s how close baseball games work. The fact we were in those situations and executed at a high enough level to end up getting the win is kind of the ideal situation for the team. It’s super obvious to the kids that any opponent you play you can get beat unless you play clean baseball, have good starting pitching and are competitive out of the bullpen.”