No. 24 West Virginia falls short against No. 3 Oklahoma State in series opener, 2-1

GRANVILLE, W.Va. — Struggling to generate offense towards one in every of school baseball’s prime pitchers in Oklahoma State’s Justin Campbell, No. 24 West Virginia wasn’t going to deviate from its aggressive nature on the basepaths.

Trailing 2-0 within the backside of the seventh inning, the Mountaineers received a double from Braden Barry instantly after McGwire Holbrook had led off with a single. Barry’s extra-base hit went to the left subject wall, however a properly executed relay from the Cowboys led to Holbrook being thrown out in loads of time on the plate.

West Virginia failed to attain that inning, and whereas the Mountaineers reduce their deficit in half within the eighth, they suffered a 2-1 loss to the third-ranked Cowboys in Friday’s collection opener earlier than a season-high 3,291 at Wagener Area at Monongalia County Ballpark.

“That’s simply baseball. We’re an aggressive staff and we’re going to make outs on the bases,” WVU supervisor Randy Mazey mentioned. “Austin Davis getting caught stealing within the sixth inning is simply as large an out as all of them. Whenever you make an out at residence plate, it looks like it will get magnified, however that’s the kind of offense we’ve. We’re going to pressure individuals to play protection towards us and so they made a fantastic defensive play.”

WVU (21-11, 5-2 Large 12) had its six-game win streak snapped with the slender setback, whereas OSU (25-9, 8-2) notched its fourth consecutive victory.

Barry was superior to 3rd on the play that noticed Holbrook thrown out at residence, and Nathan Blasick adopted by drawing a stroll to place the tying run on base. However Campbell, a towering 6-foot-7 sophomore thought of by an abundance of nationwide providers to be a prime 100 Main League Baseball Draft prospect, wouldn’t be solved on this evening. He recorded consecutive strikeouts of Grant Hussey and Mikey Kluska to finish the seventh with the Cowboys sustaining their two-run edge, and that signaled the tip of his dominant begin.

“In a sport like that, each alternative that you just don’t rating on is pivotal,” Mazey mentioned. “We had probabilities to maneuver runners and didn’t do it and it’s onerous to undergo a season with out making errors. Children make errors, however they do nice issues as properly. You are able to do two issues — have success or studying alternatives. Failure is a studying alternative, so if we’re in these conditions once more, I’ve all the religion on the planet that my guys will come by means of.”

Roman Phanssalkar relieved Campbell within the eighth and bumped into hassle after Austin Davis’ one-out single. Davis stole second and third and scored West Virginia’s solely run on Victor Scott’s sacrifice fly to heart.

Nolan McLean toed the rubber within the ninth for OSU, and after taking part in third base for the primary eight innings, McLean labored round a two-out stroll to Hussey to file his second save this season, hanging out Kluska to seal the decision.

“I simply instructed the fellows I hated to be a coach tonight and I want I used to be a fan, as a result of if you happen to’re a fan of faculty baseball, you simply received handled to among the best video games you’ll ever see,” Mazey mentioned. “It was well-pitched, well-defended and the offense did nice to get the hits they received towards the 2 pitchers they confronted. These are two of the most effective pitchers in all of faculty baseball going face to face. They’re firing bullets out of the bullpen like no person else has. [WVU pitchers Jacob Watters and Chris Sleeper] pitched nice. That’s a fantastic sport — it’s only a disgrace the Mountaineers needed to lose it.”

OSU broke a scoreless tie within the third when leadoff batter Caeden Trenkle singled to proper subject with two outs to plate Marcus Brown, who had led off with a double.

Kluska led off the underside of that inning with a double to proper however by no means received previous third base, with Campbell inducing an inning-ending groundout off the bat of JJ Wetherholt to maintain WVU off the scoreboard.

The Mountaineers prevented their deficit from rising within the fifth regardless of the Cowboys having every of their first two batters attain base. McLean was thrown out on a caught stealing after he received in a rundown between third and residential when Hueston Morrill was unable to get a bunt down.

However OSU doubled its lead within the seventh on one swing of the bat as McLean belted a solo residence run to left subject for his eighth lengthy ball this season. That marked the tip of a powerful outing for Mountaineers beginning pitcher Jacob Watters, who allowed two runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings.

“I’ve confidence due to the protection I’ve behind me and our potential to attain late within the sport, particularly in a one or two-run sport,” Watters mentioned. “The boldness is thru the roof to start with, however to go on the market and throw three fast innings and have three up, three down persistently in the beginning of the sport, it will get everyone else within the dugout extra assured. The extra assured they’re, the extra assured I’m.”

Watters struck out eight and walked only one over a 109-pitch efficiency.

“He grinded out of some jams at present,” Mazey mentioned, “and I used to be actually pleased with him.”

Chris Sleeper relieved Watters and was additionally robust within the setback, logging 2 2/3 scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts.

Brown had three of OSU’s eight hits, whereas Barry and Kluska had two hits apiece in defeat to mix for greater than half of the Mountaineers’ seven hits.

West Virginia appears to be like to even the collection at 4 p.m. Saturday.