MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (April 14, 2024) – Senior Reed Chumley hit a walk-off home run for the West Virginia University baseball team as the Mountaineers swept No. 17 UCF on Sunday with an 11-10, 11-inning victory. WVU improves to 22-13 and 11-4 in the Big 12 while the Knights fall to 21-12 and 8-10 in conference play.
Chumley’s home run was one of three on the day for the Mountaineers as juniors JJ Wetherholt and Kyle West also went deep. West finished the day with three RBI as did sophomore Logan Sauve.
On the mound, sophomore Gavin Van Kempen earned the win by throwing 3.2 hitless innings to close out the game while striking out four. Graduate student Hambleton Oliver also had a terrific outing as he struck out five in 3.2 scoreless innings.
UCF jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one half inning of play, but the Mountaineers responded with three in the home half on an RBI triple from sophomore Sam White and two-run home run off the bat of West.
After the Knights got a run back in the second, Wetherholt tied up the game with a two-run home run, his second in as many days.
UCF regained the lead with four runs in the third and the game remained 9-5 until the sixth when Sauve cleared the bases with a three-run double, just narrowly missing a game-tying grand slam.
After the Knights tacked on a run in the eighth, West Virginia tied up the game in the ninth on back-to-back bases-loaded walks to West and junior Grant Hussey to force extra innings.
After an uneventful 10th inning, Chumley led off the 11th and smacked a 1-1 pitch over the left-field wall to secure WVU’s first extra-inning win this season.
The Mountaineers will be back at Kendrick Family Ballpark on Tuesday to take on Pitt in the Backyard Brawl. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Chumley’s home run was one of three on the day for the Mountaineers as juniors JJ Wetherholt and Kyle West also went deep. West finished the day with three RBI as did sophomore Logan Sauve.
On the mound, sophomore Gavin Van Kempen earned the win by throwing 3.2 hitless innings to close out the game while striking out four. Graduate student Hambleton Oliver also had a terrific outing as he struck out five in 3.2 scoreless innings.
UCF jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one half inning of play, but the Mountaineers responded with three in the home half on an RBI triple from sophomore Sam White and two-run home run off the bat of West.
After the Knights got a run back in the second, Wetherholt tied up the game with a two-run home run, his second in as many days.
UCF regained the lead with four runs in the third and the game remained 9-5 until the sixth when Sauve cleared the bases with a three-run double, just narrowly missing a game-tying grand slam.
After the Knights tacked on a run in the eighth, West Virginia tied up the game in the ninth on back-to-back bases-loaded walks to West and junior Grant Hussey to force extra innings.
After an uneventful 10th inning, Chumley led off the 11th and smacked a 1-1 pitch over the left-field wall to secure WVU’s first extra-inning win this season.
The Mountaineers will be back at Kendrick Family Ballpark on Tuesday to take on Pitt in the Backyard Brawl. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
