STATESBORO, Ga. – The West Virginia University baseball team got off to a strong start in the 2026 season, Friday as the Mountaineers defeated Georgia Southern, 15-3, at J.I. Clements Stadium.
 
The Mountaineers collected 12 hits, getting three from junior Tyrus Hall and two each from junior Armani Guzman, senior Matthew Graveline, and senior Paul Schoenfeld. Guzman finished the night with three RBI to lead the team while sophomores Gavin Kelly and Matt Ineich each had two. Hall finished the game with four runs scored.
 
On the mound, graduate student Reese Bassinger earned the win with 3.2 scoreless innings, striking out five while allowing just one hit. Redshirt-sophomore JJ Glasscock tossed a scoreless inning to close out the game.
 
Georgia Southern scored a run in both the first and second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Guzman got WVU on the board in the third with a double before the Eagles tacked on another run in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
 
From then on, it was all Mountaineers. One run came home in the fifth before WVU took the lead with six runs in the sixth. Senior Ben Lumsden tied up the game with a sacrifice fly which was followed by a balk to put the Mountaineers on top. Kelly added two more with a single before Guzman collected two more RBI with his second double of the night.
 
In the eighth, two runs came home on a pair of Georgia Southern errors before Graveline and Schoenfeld knocked in two more. Ineich hit a two-run triple in the ninth and came home to score on a sacrifice fly by senior Brock Wills.
 
West Virginia continued its theme from late last season as nine of its 15 runs, Friday night came with two outs.
 
The two teams will close out the series on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
 

Former Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s expected testimony in front of a special Senate subcommittee has been delayed until an undetermined date.

Wade has been ordered to appear before the special committee investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, his former boss and romantic partner, on Friday. However, when the committee began Friday’s meeting by noting that the attorney would not be appearing at this time.

The special committee was created in January 2024 to examine allegations of misconduct tied to Willis’ prosecution of President Trump and 18 others accused of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. A central focus of the inquiry has been Willis’ decision to hire Wade as a special prosecutor and whether their romantic relationship created a conflict of interest or led to improper use of public funds.

In December 2025, Willis testified before the Senate committee after more than a year of legal wrangling over whether lawmakers had the authority to compel her appearance. During that testimony, she forcefully denied wrongdoing and defended Wade’s role in the case, saying she hired him because her office was overwhelmed and needed experienced leadership.

“You all want to intimidate people from doing the right thing, and you think that you’re going to intimidate me,” Willis told the committee. “You all have been trying to intimidate me for five years.”

Wade has previously testified under oath in another proceeding about his and Willis’ relationship, but lawmakers said they believed there were discrepancies between those statements and Willis’ account. 

Legal battles and scheduling conflicts

The committee, led by Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal, issued a subpoena for Wade to testify on Feb. 2. They then hired a process server to serve the subpoena to Wade on Feb. 10. 

Dolezal said they received a message from Wade’s attorney on Thursday saying that he was not able to appear before the senators the next day, but that he could voluntarily appear on March 13.

“That’s around day 31 of the Senate session, so that’s not a date that’s acceptable to the committee,” Dolezal said.

The committee is now working to find and earlier alternative date for the testimony.

Wade’s attorney requested limitations on the time and scope of his testimony, which Dolezal said they will try to negotiate.

The subpoena of Wade and Jeff DeSantis, the spokesperson for Willis’ office, are the latest in a series of legal battles between the Fulton County district attorney and the Senate panel.

Willis previously ignored an earlier subpoena, arguing through her attorneys that the committee lacked constitutional authority to force her to testify. That dispute is still moving through the courts.

So far, the committee has turned up few new facts regarding Willis’ activities in connection with her case against Mr. Trump.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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