— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — No. 17 West Virginia scored 30 runs in a weekend home sweep of Brigham Young. Marshall piled up 42 runs in taking two of three at Georgia Southern.
So it was natural to think there’d be offensive fireworks Tuesday night when the in-state rivals met at Jack Cook Field in the first of three scheduled contests this season.
Instead it was the pitchers who ruled this night. The Mountaineers scratched out three runs early, then turned to the arms to silence the Thundering Herd on the way to a 3-0 win front of 2,285 fans.
“Two good hitting teams, but nothing showed up today,” Mountaineer coach Steve Sabins said. “Both teams got incredible pitching performances. We’ve played only three weekday games. We had a tough series against BYU, sweep, then play Marshall on the road and win. We fly west now for Arizona State and Arizona. We had our mainstays out of the bullpen today. They were relatively fresh. Over the next seven to 10 days, we’re going to ask people to step up.”
Four WVU (17-4) pitchers toed the rubber and allowed just one hit and registered 12 strikeouts against the No. 2 hitting team in the Sun Belt Conference.
David Hagen started and went three innings to get the win. Ian Korn followed and went three innings as well. Reese Bassinger came on for two and struck out five. David Perez worked the ninth and notched his fifth save.
Oliver Service’s leadoff single in the seventh off Bassinet marked the lone hit for Marshall, which fell to 13-10.
“Give their pitching staff credit. They pitched really well,” Marshall coach Greg Beals said. “We’re better than that. From an offensive standpoint, we missed fastballs and chased breaking balls. That leads to strikeouts. Every time we got in position, we came up short. They out-executed us. We knew the scouting report. We knew they were going to be good. It’s going to be different when you see it. They’re a top team in the country and have built their pitching staff. You saw that tonight.”
The Herd countered with solid efforts on the mound, too. Starter Blaine Albright went 2.1 innings and gave up five hits and three runs. Luke Proehl worked 2.2 scoreless innings and allowed two hits. Alex Caudill handled the final four and fanned four in keeping the visitors off the board.
“We got great outings on the mound,” Beals said. “Luke steadied things and Alex pitched well. They put up a lot of zeros against a good baseball team.”
WVU scored once each in the first three innings and turned it over to the mound crew. In the first, the Mountaineers started with singles by Matt Ineich, Paul Schoenfeld and Matthew Graveline to load the bases. Brock Wills then grounded out to third, but that got a run home.
The Mountaineers struck again in the second when Zahir Barjam got a walk, went to second on a fielder’s choice and came home on Gavin Kelly’s single to left. With runners on first and third, Kelly stole second, but overslid the bag and was tagged out.
Winners of six straight, WVU struck again in the third. Schoenfeld led off with double to right, stole third and came in on Brodie Kresser’s bloop single off Proehl.
Marshall went hitless the first six innings. In the sixth, the Herd had two straight batters get hit by pitches, but Korn fanned AJ Havrilla and Cooper Hinson to retire the side.
In the seventh, Service got to send before an out was recorded, but Messinger then struck out the next two batters looking and got Jackson Golden on a fly to right to end the inning.
Marshall had runners on first and second in the eighth, but Hinson struck out to keep the Herd scoreless.
“I think when we got to the seventh, everybody was counting outs,” Sabins said. “Is this going to happen? I’ve been part of a no-hitter. Our starting pitching has been going deep. I think our team has learned to win in different ways. Every game is different. I felt like if we could get one more run to four, it’s over. We didn’t let them back in the game. These games against Marshall, Pitt, Penn State are big. Had a lot of blue and gold here. Mountaineer Nation follows us.”
Marshall continues its five-game home stand this weekend with a three-game series against Sun Belt leader and 15th-ranked Coastal Carolina, which improved to 17-7 Tuesday with a win over Clemson.
“Got to shorten our days a little bit,” Beals said. “Got to be sharp and ready. Coastal’s built around solid pitching. We’re going to see a lot of similar baseball. As hitters, we’ve got to handle tough at bats. It can’t affect our approach, our attitude, our confidence. I thought we were tough on the mound tonight, but not as tough at the plate as over the weekend. Play all nine innings, 27 outs. Play a little tougher.”
WVU leads the all-time series against Marshall, 59-27. The Mountaineers are 3-2 in their last five trips to Huntington.
The teams meet again April 7 in Morgantown. The third meeting is May 5 at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston.