GRANVILLE, W.Va. — During a four-year career at Kent State, pitcher Jack Kartsonas experienced success, but battled significant injury that prevented him from being able to contribute more.

Since arriving at West Virginia for his final season, Kartsonas has not only had better fortune with his health, but he’s also developed a sinker that’s leading to all sorts of success.

The latest example came Saturday afternoon when the right-hander threw seven scintillating innings against Cincinnati, limiting the Bearcats to one unearned run on one hit and keying the 24th-ranked Mountaineers to a 10-5 victory and a sweep of the three-game set at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

“Kartsonas is such a rock,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “You feel like you really know what you’re going to get — competes at the highest level, good velocity and a strike thrower. The offense really got going for the first time in maybe 10 days where we were able to put a team away.”

West Virginia (34-4, 13-3) has won 14 straight, including 11 consecutive games in Big 12 play.

A Landyn Vidourek single in the top of the third inning allowed UC (21-18, 8-10) to gain a 1-0 lead that stood until the Mountaineers got their bats going in the fourth. 

That frame began with Logan Sauve’s leadoff double, while a Kyle West single put runners at the corners. After Bearcats’ starting pitcher Carson Marsh induced a pop up off the bat of Jace Rinheart for the first out, he was replaced by left-handed reliever Adam Mrakitsch.

Mrakitsch imnediately surrendered a tying single to Sam White and Chase Swain’s two-run double that put WVU in front to stay.

The Mountaineers made it 4-1 later in the fourth on Spencer Barnett’s groundout to first.

After allowing the lone run of his outing, Kartsonas retired eight straight — the second time in the matchup he had done so.

“The sinker’s really good the last two weeks. It’s been heavy sinker. I’m throwing it really well where I want to and that’s been huge,” Kartsonas said. “Getting ahead of guys and staying ahead of guys on the attack.”

Mrakitsch took the mound to start the fifth, but had a rough go of it that inning as well, surrendering four runs with two outs, starting with a Rinehart single that brought Sauve home.

Swain added a run-scoring double, and after Brandon Scheurer took over a pitcher, Barnett delivered a two-run single that left the Bearcats facing an 8-1 deficit.

Sauve’s solo home run — his second in as many games and team-high seventh this season — made it 9-1 in the sixth, which was the final inning for Kartsonas, who threw 67 of his 102 pitches for strikes.

The sinker was the primary cause for success.

“I trust it. I started throwing it here when I started throwing bullpens after surgery and right as I started throwing it, it was good,” he said. “It comes super naturally with my arm slot and repeating my mechanics helps a lot.”

With the Mountaineers leading 10-1 in the eighth, WVU relief pitchers Mac Stiffler and Ben McDougal encountered trouble, and the Bearcats brought four runs across in that inning on a Derrick Pitts single, Cal Sefcik double and Dawson Hokuf’s single that scored two to make it 10-5.

Tyler Hutson then took over for McDougal and retired all five batters he faced to prevent the Bearcats from posing a serious threat in the late stages.

Kartsonas struck out seven and walked three in his second start this season. His first came last Sunday at Houston when the Pittsburgh native threw seven scoreless frames and allowed two hits in an 11-4 victory.

“The health matched with the pitching plan has allowed him to make strides,” Sabins said. “A guy that needed multiple procedures this summer, he may have been healthy previously, but maybe not really. Meaning he might have been a little banged up, but a lot of these competitors like him get used to feeling poorly consistently until your arm blows. Having some of the things that needed done, combined with the resources here and some of the best coaches in the country, along with a kid who really wants it, that’s allowed him to take off.”

Sauve, Rinehart, White, Swain and Barnett had two hits apiece to lead the Mountaineers’ 13-hit attack.

“Today, we kind of got the bats rolling and a lot of things clicked at the right time,” Sauve said. “We were able to squeeze two 4-spots together and that was really big.”