Virginia
West Virginia strikes out 15 times, falls to Kansas 5-3 in Big 12 home opener – WV MetroNews
GRANVILLE, W.Va. — An incapacity to place the ball in play and produce on the plate in vital spots proved expensive for West Virginia in Friday’s Huge 12 Convention dwelling opener in opposition to Kansas.
The Mountaineers by no means led, struck out a season-high 15 instances and left the tying run in scoring place within the seventh and eighth innings throughout a 5-3 loss to the Jayhawks at Wagener Subject at Monongalia County Ballpark.
“We left some guys on base and made some outs at third base a pair instances and at second base,” WVU supervisor Randy Mazey mentioned. “Some fairly dangerous outs and it doesn’t matter who you play. Anyone can beat you for those who don’t make the most of alternatives, you’ll not win the sport.”
In what marked the primary of a three-game sequence over the vacation weekend, Kansas (14-14, 4-3) claimed its sixth consecutive victory.
The Jayhawks led 4-3 within the dwelling half of the seventh inning when the Mountaineers (22-8, 2-2) bought a leadoff double from Braden Barry. Nevertheless, Barry was thrown out at third base attempting to advance on a Dayne Leonard strikeout, and although Leonard reached on the play, he was finally stranded at second when KU aid pitcher Thaniel Trumper induced a come out in foul territory off the bat off Ellis Garcia.
“The ball went via the catcher’s legs and hit the umpire and bounced proper again to the catcher,” Mazey mentioned of the play that Barry was thrown out at third on. “That’s dangerous luck.”
David Hagaman pitched a scoreless high of the eighth to maintain WVU’s deficit at one, and the Mountaineers had one other prime probability to get even within the dwelling half of that body.
Landon Wallace drew a leadoff stroll and moved to second on a handed ball. Sam White, inserted to pinch hit for Kevin Dowdell with a 1-0 rely, struck out for the primary out of the eighth, earlier than Tevin Tucker’s groundout allowed Wallace to advance to 3rd.
Confronted with a call of pitching to or deliberately strolling WVU’s high hitter in J.J. Wetherholt, the Jayhawks selected to assault Wetherholt, and it paid off when left-handed reliever Stone Hewlett induced an inning-ending groundout to first.
A ninth-inning dwelling run from Cole Elvis — Kansas’ third lengthy ball of the night time — allowed the Jayhawks to double their lead. They then sealed the victory with Hewlett’s scoreless ninth, and he struck out Grant Hussey searching for the ultimate out after Hussey had stepped into the batter’s field representing the tying run.
“We didn’t play dangerous. We didn’t pitch very properly early on, however our bullpen was actually good,” Mazey mentioned. “Now they be ok with themselves and so they know they will beat us. We all know they will beat us and the followers know they will beat us and we all know now we have to play properly.”
The Jayhawks bought to WVU beginning pitcher Ben Hampton early, and it led to his shorting outing this season.
After leaving the bases loaded within the first inning, Kansas bought a leadoff dwelling run from Jake English within the second to strike first. Later that inning, Chase Jans belted a two-run dwelling run to left area, leaving the Mountaineers in a 3-0 gap.
“That they had a very good strategy in opposition to him. All people is aware of how he pitches and when you’ve got a great strategy in opposition to him, that’s what’ll occur,” Mazey mentioned. “He’ll study from it.”
WVU bought a Hussey single and Ellis Garcia stroll to threaten within the second, however was nonetheless unable to crack Kansas stating pitcher Collin Baumgartner.
Janson Reeder scored on a wild pitch within the third to up Kansas’ benefit to 4 runs, however the Mountaineers lower their deficit in half that inning courtesy of two-out RBI doubles from Caleb McNeely and Grant Hussey.
West Virginia had a primary probability to attract nearer within the fifth after Leonard and McNeely singled to start out the inning, however after McNeely overslid second on a stolen base try, he took off for third, which was occupied by Leonard. That led to a rundown and Leonard being thrown out as he dashed towards the plate.
McNeely was nonetheless at third with one out that inning, however the Mountaineers couldn’t get him dwelling. They lower their deficit in half and pulled to inside a run when Wallace led off the sixth with a house run to left.
Trumper tossed three scoreless innings in aid with six strikeouts to file the win.
“He has pretty much as good a breaking ball as you’re going to see,” Mazey mentioned.
Hampton took the loss after permitting 4 runs on seven hits over 3 2/3 innings. He struck out 4 and issued 4 base-on-balls.
Maxx Yehl logged 3 1/3 scoreless innings after taking up for Hampton.
“He was blowing their bats up and did a very good job. That’s actually encouraging and he’ll get on the market extra typically if he retains doing that,” Mazey mentioned.
Jans and Jackson Cobb keyed Kansas’ nine-hit effort with two hits apiece.
Hussey was 3-for-5 to guide the Mountaineers, whereas Leonard and McNeely added two hits apiece in defeat. The rest of West Virginia’s lineup mixed to go 2-for-22.
The groups meet once more at 4 p.m. Saturday and three p.m. Sunday.
The final game of the 2024 regular season is here. West Virginia will take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock this afternoon, looking for win No. 7. Can they get it? Here are our predictions for the game.
West Virginia’s pass defense is going to be tested today, with Behren Morton slinging it all over the place. Morton puts up big numbers, but a lot of his passes come out of the quick game with some shots mixed in. Tech plays at a very high-tempo and West Virginia has struggled against offenses that have turned it up a notch this season, most notably Pitt.
While Texas Tech’s pass defense is even worse than West Virginia’s, it doesn’t necessarily mean the Mountaineers will have their way through the air. Without Traylon Ray and Jaden Bray, WVU will be a little shorthanded at receiver, and unit as a whole has struggled to win versus man coverage all season long.
West Virginia can’t afford to let Texas Tech dictate the tempo and flow of this game. If they try to play to Tech’s speed, they’ll get boatraced. They have to do everything they can to hold onto the football and milk the clock to limit possessions.
WVU hangs in, but Texas Tech comes out victorious.
Prediction record: 7-4.
Texas Tech is looking to secure its first eight-win regular season since 2009 on Saturday. The Red Raiders started the season 5-1 but have since dropped three of their last five games, although they did go into Ames and knock off an, a then, 11th-ranked Iowa State team.
West Virginia has seen more lows than highs this season, considering the expectations in and surrounding the program. However, the Mountaineers are determined to close out the regular season with a win.
Texas Tech has been really good in Lubbock at regular season finales and are 10-2, including an eight-game winning streak in those games. Meanwhile, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is 4-0 during Thanksgiving week, which generally falls on the regular season finale, but during the COVID season, the Mountaineers eventually wrapped up the regular season in Ames on December 5th. However, there was a scheduled game against Oklahoma on Dec. 12 in Morgantown, but the game was canceled. So, lets stick with the Thanksgiving week stat.
Neal Brown captured his first win against Texas Tech in Morgantown last year after dropping the first four meetings.
The Red Raiders will be motivated for redemption on the toughness of running back Thaj Brooks. The senior has rushed for over 100 yards in all 10 of his appearances this season, tallying 1,317 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Behren Morton has been solid for Texas Tech this season, throwing for 2,976 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Despite all their offensive success, the defense, like West Virginia’s, has been their downfall. It’s hard to believe there’s been worse defense than the Mountaineers, but the Red Raiders are in contention with Oklahoma State to take the title of “Big 12’s Worst Defense”.
In what I believed to be a ‘toss up’ game from the beginning of the season holds true today. I don’t like the stats against WVU in this one with Tech’s home success and recent series history, but like last week, I’m going with the intangible Garrett Greene.
The Mountaineers did not necessarily need heroics in last week’s win against UCF, but they will more than likely need some big plays down the stretch to steal the victory and I don’t believe will allow it to happen.
Garrett Greene has a big fourth quarter while running backs CJ Donalson and Jahiem White pound the rock in the running game and steal a victory in Lubbock 37-34.
Prediction record: 7-4.
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia National Guard (VNG) soldiers returned home from deployment in Poland on Wednesday — just in time to spend Thanksgiving with their families.
The soldiers were assigned to the Virginia Beach-based 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 329th Regional Support Group and reunited with family, friends and VNG senior leaders on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
These reunions came after the soldiers had been serving on federal active duty since March of this year.
The 529th was based at Forward Operating Site in Karliki, Poland and was responsible for supply missions, logistics and maintenance. They also serve as a headquarters element for Task Force Cavalier, which oversees operations and training for over 550 soldiers from 4 different subordinate units from active-duty Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard.
Among the people there to greet the returning soldiers and thank them for their service was Major General James W. Ring, the Adjutant General of Virginia and Brig. Gen. Todd H. Hubbard — the VNG Director of the Joint Staff.
“You showed tremendous resiliency,” said Lt. Col. Carlos Maldonado, commander of TF Cavalier at the TOA. “You overcame and absolutely crushed the mission. Through it all, Cavalier you persevered.”
To learn more about what their deployment entailed, click here.
Continue scrolling to see photos of the soldiers returning home to their families:
It’s the final day of the Battle 4 Atlantis and the West Virginia Mountaineers are hoping to leave the Bahamas with a third-place finish in the event. Winning the whole thing would have been extremely impressive considering the field, but Darian DeVries’ squad has already notched a key resume-building win over Gonzaga and can do so again today against No. 24 Arizona.
Here are my picks for today’s game. Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
1 Star – Not very confident
2 Star – A little confident
3 Star – Fairly confident
4 Star – Very confident
5 Star – Should be a lock to happen
3-star play on Arizona (-6.5): This is a really tough matchup for the Mountaineers playing its third game in three days. When these two meet later in the year, I believe WVU will put together a much stronger showing and potentially even win the game. Not there, though.
The Wildcats have a nine-man rotation, which occasionally will be a ten-man. WVU’s key players have logged a ton of minutes over the last two days, with both games going to overtime. As evidenced in yesterday’s game, if the Mountaineers face serious foul trouble, it impacts them more than most teams due to a lack of depth. Amani Hansberry should be able to produce a third straight big game, but if he starts picking up fouls left and right, WVU will be in trouble. Arizona’s guard-heavy lineup will attack and finish around the rim with ease.
I’ve got the Wildcats pulling away with a strong second half.
1-star play on the under: Arizona is a high-scoring team that likes to push the tempo. They’ve averaged 67 field goal attempts in this tournament, whereas WVU has attempted 59 and 63 in games that went to overtime. For West Virginia to win, they’re going to have to slow things down when they have the ball, much like they did in the opening-round game against Gonzaga.
I mentioned fatigue setting in as a possibility in the WVU-Louisville game yesterday, and although Darian DeVries isn’t using that as an excuse, you can tell it played a factor for both teams, especially in the first half. Both squads looked sloppy, slow, and disjointed. I seriously doubt WVU and Arizona will have an extra bounce in their step today, playing for the third time in three days and in a game deciding who takes home third place.
ATS: 3-3 (50%)
O/U: 4-2 (66%)
Overall: 7-5 (58%)
Odds Disclaimer
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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