GRANVILLE, W.Va. — Despite losing their leaders in batting average and earned run average in the same inning due to injury, No. 15 West Virginia surged late to level their series with Houston, defeating the Cougars 7-1.
The Mountaineers (26-9, 11-6 Big 12) used back-to-back three-run innings and a sterling relief effort from Ian Korn to shake off a slow start. In the bottom of the first, catcher Gavin Kelly injured his left wrist sliding into first base. Kelly remained in the game, shifting to second base before he was removed from the lineup in the third inning. He exited the contest just as starting pitcher Maxx Yehl was pulled after facing one batter in the third inning.
“We’ll see how Yehl (2.41 ERA) is doing tomorrow. I think he is going to be OK. I think it was probably more fatigue, more a little bit beat up. The ball wasn’t coming out of his hand good. So it was a little bit of a scare there,” said WVU head coach Steve Sabins.
“Velo and pitch shapes were just different. It was coming out of his hand differently. The sinker was kind of a four-seamer. It was 89 in the first inning then he threw some 87’s and 86’s. It wasn’t looking right. He wasn’t rotating fast. His body wasn’t moving efficiently.”
Kelly (3.97 batting average) attempted to remain in the game but he was taken out during the delay when Yehl was replaced by Korn.
“There was nothing broken on X-ray. We’ll probably do an MRI here at some point just to be careful with him,” Sabins said of Kelly.
“When Maxx was injured, I went out and I was talking to Kelly and I was like, ‘How’s it going?’ He said, ‘It doesn’t feel good’. I was like, OK, we just have to protect this guy for the rest of the season and make sure we don’t do something that gets him further injured.”
Pressed into the game early, Korn authored his longest outing of the season. He pitched five innings while allowing just one run on three hits.
“I kind of had an idea that Yehl was hurting a little bit so I was prepared to go pretty early in the game,” Korn said.
“It is your game. Yehl had a runner on but it is still your ball game when you get out there. You set the tone. You set the pace and go from there.”
“Sometimes when those things happen, they present opportunities. That’s what happened today with Ian Korn. That guy was been tremendous for us but he stepped up in a massive way,” Sabins said.
“He set himself up and put us in a position to win. You couldn’t ask for anything more out of him.”
Korn entered a scoreless game in the third inning and when he finished up in the seventh, WVU had built a 7-1 lead. Coming off a three-inning save Wednesday against Penn State, Reese Bassigner recorded the final six outs for the Mountaineers with two perfect innings of relief.
“By the grace of God, Bassinger was the right guy to finish those two innings,” Sabins said.
The Mountaineers broke a scoreless stalemate in the fifth inning. After beating out a double play ball, Armani Guzman stole second and third base before scoring on a squeeze bunt from Matthew Graveline.
“Me and Sabs have pretty good communication when I run and when I don’t run,” Guzman said. “Outside of that, I was just trying to use my speed to my advantage. I would rather not hit a ground ball and beat out a double play. But when it comes to stealing bases and [Graveline] getting that bunt, it was big time.”
Steve Sabins on injuries to C/2B Gavin Kelly and SP Maxx Yehl and WVU’s 7-1 win over Houston: pic.twitter.com/8PJLkffkvv
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) April 18, 2026
“He beats out the double play ball with his speed. Then he steals second and he steals third. Then we safety squeeze in a guy for the first run. The definition of manufacturing with the tools and the God-given ability you have, because we weren’t hitting,” Sabins said. “We weren’t sitting in there and slugging. So we found a way to win. Throughout the course of the season, good teams are required to do that.”
Guzman and Brock Wills each had a pair of base hits.
WVU broke the game open with consecutive three-run innings in the sixth and seventh frames.
After missing two weeks due to injury, Brodie Kresser returned to the starting lineup for the first time since April 4. Kresser went 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs batted in.
“Sometimes coming off of injury, if you haven’t seen live pitching in ten days or two weeks, that’s difficult,” Sabins said. “All of a sudden, guys are throwing 96 and 87 mile an hour cutters. But he did a nice job. He came up with a really big hit today. It was nice to have him back in there.”
With the victory, West Virginia avoided losing consecutive games for just the second time this season. Houston won Friday’s series opener, 10-7.
“We know we are talented. We work hard and we have worked for this the whole year,” Guzman said. “It is one of those things where we won’t let losses, losing a pitch or losing an inning kind of affect us our whole day.”
Cade Climie and Blake Fields combined for four of Houston’s (17-20, 4-13 Big 12) five hits in the game.
Sunday’s rubber game of the series is set for 1 p.m.