BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) – The State Fair of West Virginia has announced their lineup for the 2024 event.

Lil Jon, Travis Tritt, Seether, Anne Wilson and Bailey Zimmerman are just a few of the artists announced on the fair’s Facebook page Wednesday.

To see the full schedule and buy tickets, visit https://statefairofwv.com/events/.

This year, the fair will take place from August 8th through the 17th in Lewisburg.

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GRANVILLE, W.Va. — Wind often aids hitters in their quest for power at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

While that was not the case Wednesday when West Virginia welcomed Penn State, one could hardly tell.

The Mountaineers hit six home runs, including three in a six-run first inning as their offense led the way in an 18-7 seven-inning win against Penn State before a crowd of 3,748.

“This game was about practice yesterday. We had a great practice yesterday and kind of went back to some fundamental stuff offensively that we’d kind of got away from,” West Virginia coach Randy Mazey said. “Kudos to our players — they committed to what we were trying to teach them in practice yesterday and carried it over into the game, which isn’t all that easy to do. You live and die by the homer I guess with this team. We hit some this past weekend, but we didn’t pitch well enough to overcome it.”

Making his first career start on the mound, freshman Chase Meyer overcame two walks to work a scoreless first, and when he came back out to pitch the second, the Mountaineers (29-18) were in complete control.

Logan Sauve hit the first pitch thrown by Penn State (21-21) starter Mason Butash over the wall in left-center field, and it was a sign of things to come.

West Virginia’s first seven batters went on to reach, including JJ Wetherholt on a single, while consecutive base-on-balls created a bases loaded opportunity for Sam White, who singled to left to drive in a pair.

Grant Hussey worked the third walk of the inning and Brodie Kresser immediately followed with a grant slam to left-center for a 7-0 advantage.

“The guys on our team have unbelievable juice. We have guys that can hit the ball far,” Kresser said. “I’m not one of them, but I guess I can run into it. Even if it is windy, our guys can put the ball in the air and make it fly. It’s pretty cool to see.”

Butash was relieved by Ben DeMell after recording his first and only out, but DeMell’s outing began in the same fashion as that of the Nittany Lions’ starter, with Skylar King connecting for a home run into the right field bullpen to make it 8-0.

The Mountaineers wasted no time adding to their advantage in their second trip to the plate, which began with Reed Chumley’s 427-foot home run off the scoreboard — his team-leading 13th long ball of the season.

White followed with a home run of his own to right, which made it three home runs against DeMell in a six-batter span.

Kresser’s single and a Ben Lumsden double allowed WVU to add to its comfortable advantage later in the second as the home team plated separate runs on a King sacrifice fly and Sauve single to leave PSU with a 12-0 deficit.

“I know one thing — we’ll take the field Friday with confidence,” Mazey said.

However, the Nittany Lions broke through in a big way offensively in the third to put a scare into WVU.

During that frame, PSU amassed five of its nine hits, and utilized a Bobby Marsh single to bring in its first run, before Tayven Kelley brought in a pair with a single to right-center. That marked the end of Meyer’s outing, which covered eight outs. He was replaced by Bryce Amos, who faced three hitters and failed to record an out as the Nittany Lions drew closer by scoring a fourth run on a wild pitch, two on Joe Jaconski’s single and again on a J.T. Marr single that trimmed the WVU advantage to five.

“We needed a game just like this,” Mazey said. “We didn’t need them to score seven in one inning, but we needed some guys to start swinging the bat and it’s good to see that, and we needed some guys that pitched to pitch.”

Any thought of PSU coming closer to completing a rally, however, was largely put to rest in the home half of that inning as the Mountaineers scored three runs with two outs — one each on Hussey’s double, Kresser’s single and Lumsden’s single, all of which came off Will Perkowski.

West Virginia got its sixth and final home run in the fourth when Wetherholt belted a 439-foot shot to right that made it 16-7.

“The reason this is not an easy park to hit home runs in is because the wind is swirling a lot sometimes,” Wetherholt said. “With no wind, it’s a normal park and the ball carries and it doesn’t get affected. Pretty much all of us have enough power to get it out to any field, but when wind is blowing in a certain direction, it kills homers. No wind is perfectly fine with me.”

Ellis Garcia, pinch-hitting for King, made the most of his opportunity in the fifth and drove in two with a double that pushed the lead back to double figures.

After Tommy Beam worked a scoreless fifth and sixth, Aidan Smith followed suit in the seventh, enabling WVU to finish off the victory early as a result of a 10-run mercy rule.

In addition to driving in five runs, Kresser was 4-for-4.

“We really emphasize on hitting off speed up the middle and hitting balls up the middle. The middle is where you make your money and you’re going to win a lot of games when you hit up the middle,” Kresser said. “I didn’t change too much. Kept my approach and saw it well.”

Wetherholt added three hits and Sauve, White, Hussey and Lumsden had two apiece in what marked the Mountaineers’ ninth straight home win (their last home loss came back on March 30 against Oklahoma State).

“We couldn’t do that if it wasn’t for the fans and people in the community,” Mazey said. “Asterisk on those last nine wins for the atmosphere the community has created.”

Meyer was credited with the win after allowing five runs in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked five. 

Maxx Yehl threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings and was the first of three consecutive WVU relievers to log a scoreless outing.

Butash fell to 1-4 after being charged with seven runs. 

The matchup marked either the fourth or fifth to last home game for Mazey, who will retire at the conclusion of this season.

WVU is set to welcome Kansas State for a three-game series starting Friday and is attempting to add what would be a final home game for Mazey on Tuesday.

“You guys keep reminding me and so does my wife. I don’t want this to be about me,” Mazey said. “If it becomes about me, that’ll be a huge distraction. I want it to be about the kids, the fans and the community and just do what we do. When I’ve coached my last game, it can be about me because it doesn’t affect this year’s team anymore. As long as this team is playing and playing well and has a chance to do something, it needs to be about them.”

Penn State baseball (21-21, 7-11 Big 10) fell to West Virginia (29-18, 15-9 Big 12) as the team traveled to Morgantown for a midweek matchup with the Mountaineers.

Mason Butash recorded just one out in the first inning after the right-hander surrendered two home runs, one of being was a grand slamm, as the Mountaineers scored eight runs in the opening inning of the night. Aside from putting together a seven-run third inning, the huge deficit early kept the Penn State bats from getting going.

How It Happened

Joe Jaconski led off the game with a walk after the first baseman worked the count full, advancing to second after JT Marr grounded out to first base and the throw to second base to double up Jaconski sailed into left field. Adam Cecere worked a walk to give the Nittany Lions runners on first and second with one out, but West Virginia starter Chase Meyer rebounded to strike out the next two batters and end the Penn State threat.

The Mountaineers jumped on Butash early, with Logan Sauve launching the first pitch he saw over the center field fence for a home run that gave West Virginia the first run of the ballgame. Followed up by a single and a pair of walks, the Mountaineers were set up with bases loaded and no outs.

With Butash already on the ropes, Sam White roped a 1-0 fastball down the left field line for a two-run single that extended the West Virginia lead to 3-0. After issuing a walk to Grant Hussey, Butash left a fastball down the middle of the plate that was quickly deposited over the center field fence by Brodie Kresser for a grand slam. The homer gave West Virginia a 7-0 lead before Butash recorded an out.

Head coach Mike Gambino had finally seen enough from his starter as he called upon Ben DeMell to get the final two outs of the inning after Butash had recorded his first out. DeMell was greeted similarly to Butash as he surrendered a solo home run to the nine-hitter Skylar King, extending the West Virginia lead to eight. JJ Wetherholt roped a double into the left field gap with two outs but advanced no further, as DeMell recorded the final out of the inning.

Bryce Molinaro ripped a single to lead off the second inning as Penn State tried to get back into the game and stole second later in the inning to put himself in scoring position with two outs. After Kevin Michaels worked a walk to give Penn State two runners on, Meyer forced Jaconski to fly out to left field and once again escape trouble.

West Virginia picked up right where it left off in the second inning as Reed Chumley sent a fastball off of the scoreboard in left field for a solo home run, which was followed up by a White home run to right field, extending the Mountaineers lead to 10 in just the second inning. After DeMell surrendered a single and double with one out in the inning, Gambino once again went to his bullpen and called upon Will Perkowski to record some outs.

Bucking the trend of immediately giving up a home run after entering the game, Perkowski forced King to fly out to center, but a runner scored from third and once again extended the West Virginia lead. Seeing his third pitcher of the game, Sauve lined an RBI single into center and gave the Mountaineers a 12-0 lead. Perkowski escaped after this as the right-hander got Wetherholt to ground out to second.

Marr worked a walk and was moved to third by a single from Grant Norris to lead off the third inning for the Nittany Lions. Penn State finally broke through thanks to a Bobby Marsh single that scored Marr, and a Molinaro walk loaded the bases with one out in the inning.

After retiring Maloney with a nice breaking ball for the second out of the inning, Meyer allowed a two-run single to Tayven Kelley that cut the West Virginia lead to 12-3. This single chased the Mountaineers’ starter from the game with Bryce Amos tasked with keeping the Nittany Lions at bay.

Amos’ first pitch found the backstop, allowing Molinaro to score and Kelley to advance to second. After Michaels worked a walk, Jaconski ripped a double into the right field gap that scored two and further chipped away the West Virginia lead, this time to 12-6. Continuing the offensive onslaught for the Nittany Lions, Marr lined an RBI single to center and widdled the Mountaineers lead to five.

With Amos unable to record an out, Randy Mazey called on Maxx Yehl to work West Virginia out of trouble and the left-hander did just that, forcing Adam Cecere to roll over for the final out. Perkowski continued to find success for Penn State, recording two outs before Gambino called on David Lee to finish the inning. Lee appeared to work out of the inning as he forced Hussey to hit a mile-high popup to center, but miscommunication between Norris and Kelley allowed the ball to fall in for a hit and score Chumley from second. Things went from bad to worse for Lee as Kresser lined an RBI single to left field to extend the West Virginia lead back to seven.

Ben Lumsden scorched a ball into center that scored Kresser and ballooned the Mountaineers’ lead to eight. After allowing three straight hits, Lee managed to escape the inning as King grounded out to first.

As Penn State looked to get some runs back in the top of the fourth inning, Mollinaro and Maloney ripped two-out singles to set up Kelley with two runners on. Yehl settled down, however, and forced Kelley to ground out to first and escape the inning without allowing a run.

Wetherholt continued the fireworks for West Virginia, as the star infielder launched a solo home run to right field that traveled 439 feet and was hit 109 miles per hour. As Lee struggled, Matt Morash came on in relief and stuck out Chumley to end the inning as Penn State continued to trail 16-7.

Tommy Beam took the mound to begin the fifth inning for the Mountaineers and worked a scoreless inning. West Virginia tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run triple off the bat of Ellis Garcia. Norris led off the sixth inning with a single but was doubled off as Beam recorded another zero on the mound.

The impossible happened for Penn State as pitcher James Lordi entered the game and held the Mountaineers scoreless for the first time all night. With Penn State three outs away from losing due to the seventh-inning 10-run rule, the Nittany Lions went down with little resistance to end the game.

Takeaways

• The Penn State pitching staff has been less than spectacular throughout its season and showed as such against an outstanding West Virginia team. Butash recorded just one out before being pulled and Perkowski was the only pitcher who found consistent success for the Nittany Lions. To make matters worse, Penn State surrendered six home runs in the first four innings, one of which was a grand slam.
• Anytime a team goes down 12-0 in the second inning, it’s nearly impossible to come back and win that game. Penn State showed some fight in the third inning by scoring seven runs to get the deficit under 10, but it was going take a lot more than that to win with West Virginia swinging the bats as well as they were.
• West Virginia is one of the premier programs in college baseball, and a Penn State win would have been a massive upset. With a star-studded roster highlighted by a future first-round pick in Wetherholt, the Mountaineers look primed for a deep postseason run.

What’s Next?

Penn State baseball will return to Happy Valley for its final home series of the year against Rutgers, with game one taking place at 5:30 on Friday, May 10. The game can be streamed on BTN+.