MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (May 5, 2023) – Make it 10 straight victories for the No. 12 West Virginia baseball team as it defeated Oklahoma, 9-3, Friday night at Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark in the series opener. The Mountaineers improve to 35-11 on the season and 12-4 in the Big 12 while the Sooners fall to 25-21 and 9-10 in conference play.
It is the first 10-game winning streak for WVU since 2016. It is also the 11th time in program history that the Mountaineers have reached the 35-win plateau and first time since 2019. Out of those 11 seasons, this is the fastest West Virginia has reached the mark.
At the plate, junior Landon Wallace hit his ninth home run of the season while sophomore Grant Hussey had two doubles and two RBI. Freshman Ellis Garcia also had two hits and two RBI on the night.
Junior Ben Hampton picked up his fifth win of the season with 6.0 innings of one-run ball, striking out three. Sophomore Aidan Major earned the save by pitching the final 3.0 innings and striking out three. The two pitchers allowed 12 hits combined but did their best with runners on as the Sooners hit .200 (4-for-20) with traffic on the bases and just .182 (2-for-11) with runners in scoring position.
The Mountaineers jumped out front in the first as Wallace smacked a two-run home run the opposite way.
After providing two runs with his bat, Wallace prevented a run in the third as he threw out the potential tying run at the plate to end the inning, his third outfield assist of the season
In the third, Hussey extended the lead with a one-hop double off the left-field wall to score Wallace before Garcia tacked on two more runs with a single back up the middle.
After graduate student Dayne Leonard added a run in the fifth with a single, he came home to score himself on another double by Hussey.
Junior Braden Barry knocked in a run in the sixth, beating out an infield single. The Mountaineers scored their final run of the night in the seventh as Garcia came home on a wild pitch.
The Sooners scored two runs in the eighth, but Major struck out two to put a close to the inning and maintain a comfortable lead for WVU.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow for game two of the series. It is Military Appreciation Day with first pitch set for 4 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
It is the first 10-game winning streak for WVU since 2016. It is also the 11th time in program history that the Mountaineers have reached the 35-win plateau and first time since 2019. Out of those 11 seasons, this is the fastest West Virginia has reached the mark.
At the plate, junior Landon Wallace hit his ninth home run of the season while sophomore Grant Hussey had two doubles and two RBI. Freshman Ellis Garcia also had two hits and two RBI on the night.
Junior Ben Hampton picked up his fifth win of the season with 6.0 innings of one-run ball, striking out three. Sophomore Aidan Major earned the save by pitching the final 3.0 innings and striking out three. The two pitchers allowed 12 hits combined but did their best with runners on as the Sooners hit .200 (4-for-20) with traffic on the bases and just .182 (2-for-11) with runners in scoring position.
The Mountaineers jumped out front in the first as Wallace smacked a two-run home run the opposite way.
After providing two runs with his bat, Wallace prevented a run in the third as he threw out the potential tying run at the plate to end the inning, his third outfield assist of the season
In the third, Hussey extended the lead with a one-hop double off the left-field wall to score Wallace before Garcia tacked on two more runs with a single back up the middle.
After graduate student Dayne Leonard added a run in the fifth with a single, he came home to score himself on another double by Hussey.
Junior Braden Barry knocked in a run in the sixth, beating out an infield single. The Mountaineers scored their final run of the night in the seventh as Garcia came home on a wild pitch.
The Sooners scored two runs in the eighth, but Major struck out two to put a close to the inning and maintain a comfortable lead for WVU.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow for game two of the series. It is Military Appreciation Day with first pitch set for 4 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
