West Virginia
Penn State Baseball Dismantled 18-7 By West Virginia
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+.
West Virginia
Community Catalyst Grant applications are open through West Virginia First Foundation through June 30 – WV MetroNews
The West Virginia First Foundation, which was established to use drug lawsuit settlement money to try to alleviate problems related to addiction, reported having access to $378.5 million in financial resources and noted that more than $34 million in grants have been awarded since the organization’s start.
The West Virginia First Foundation met for a few minutes Thursday at Ascend West Virginia in Charleston. The meeting was also available for view through streaming.
Executive Director Jonathan Board highlighted the launch of the Community Catalyst Grant application and a statewide needs assessment intended to identify service gaps.
Designed as a three-year, outcomes-driven investment, the program will support projects focused on public safety response, day report centers and generational prevention efforts. The program opened for applications on June 1 and remains open through June 30.
“We’re very encouraged by the interest and engagement so far,” Board said.
The board also approved a $4 million funding request for the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. The project is focused on expanding access to innovative addiction treatment and recovery support tools while building the technology and infrastructure needed to support implementation across West Virginia.
Additional details about the project and funding agreement are to be released in the coming weeks following the completion of final documentation. West Virginia First Foundation and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute plan to issue a joint announcement once the agreement process is complete.
“They’ve gone through a very rigorous process for the correct funding,” Board said. “Their team has presented an opportunity to fund a project that will build technology, training and support systems of care needed to expand access to an innovative addiction treatment approach throughout the state of West Virginia, and really beyond.”
The West Virginia First Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2023 to manage and distribute 72.5% of the state’s opioid settlement funds, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The organization is aimed at combatting the addiction crisis through grants and regional projects.
The next regular meeting of the Foundation’s Board of Directors is scheduled for Sept. 17 although it’s subject to change.
West Virginia may have come up empty-handed in two tries against North Carolina in the College World Series, but they earned the respect of their head coach, Scott Forbes, who was incredibly complimentary of the Mountaineers following Wednesday’s game.
“I want to congratulate West Virginia. A heck of a team, a heck of a run,” he opened his postgame press conference with. “They are very well coached. They just play the game the right way. It’s a credit to their coaching staff. They come at you a lot of ways. A lot of speed, deep pitching staff, so we really had to work in those two games to beat them. I’ve been in their shoes, and I know what that feels like, and it’s a stinker. But man, they got a lot to be proud of, and they should be extremely proud of how they represented their university.”
The culture at WVU is as strong as it gets
Multiple times this season, West Virginia looked like they were well on their way to a loss and were rewarded with a win because they never stopped playing hard. Everyone thinks of the two games against Kentucky in the Morgantown Regional, and rightfully so, but they also came back to win after trailing by eight against UCF and after trailing by five to BYU.
For a moment, there was a belief that the magical moment was going to come again during Wednesday’s game against Forbes’ Tar Heels. With two outs in the 7th and trailing 12-1, Armani Guzman busted his tail down the first base line to beat out a grounder to short. It ultimately led to a five-run inning for the Mountaineers, all of a sudden turning a laugher into a semi-interesting game. Gavin Kelly hit a solo home run in the 8th to make it a five-run deficit, and in the ninth, Ben Lumsden just missed a three-run shot that would have really put pressure on North Carolina, even with two outs.
To have your team still playing hard when trailing by 11 with their season likely about to come to an end, it says a lot about the character of this group, but also how deeply ingrained the culture is at WVU. There’s a reason this program has turned the corner over the last 14 or so years and is continuing to trend up. They’ve had the right people in place leading it.
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West Virginia
Proposed 107.5-mile transmission line could leave W.Va. ratepayers on hook for $440M-$900M
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — A 107.5-mile transmission line project has been proposed, the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link, which would cut through parts of West Virginia to ultimately help power Virginia’s data center hub since there is not enough generation locally to serve them.
“Virginia gets the power and West Virginia gets the towers,” Del Chris Anders said. “What they did is they look west and said, hey, we’ll just use West Virginia but we’ll get this power and we’ll run this big extension cord. I’m all for exporting power from West Virginia. We are a power production state, but I’m not going to do so out of the wallets of West Virginians and allowing their property to be taken.”
During the 2026 legislative session, lawmakers put a bill on the table which was aimed at giving the state access to utilize these lines, but nothing made it to the finish line.
“We said, ‘Okay, if you’re going to run them through, you have to drop substations in West Virginia and by the way, West Virginia ratepayers will only pay for the amount of energy that stays within our state,’” Anders said.
A second line is also up for discussion. Valley Link Transmission hasn’t finalized any routes yet, but it would consist of 260 miles of transmission line and would add two substations between Frederick County, Maryland, and Putnam County.
With both of these lines, the main concern surrounding the proposals is who exactly is expected to foot the bill and whether or not it will ultimately fall back on West Virginia ratepayers.
“We’re going to be on the hook for anywhere between $440 million to over $900 million on both lines,” Anders said.
Lawmakers said those price tags continue to increase.
“At least for the MARL line, they went back to the grid operator, PJM, and said, ‘It’s going to cost significantly more money than it originally thought. Those estimates of the cost to West Virginia ratepayers are only going to go up,’” Del. Evan Hansen said.
These projects have gained bipartisan opposition. This is all beginning when representatives for these energy companies brought these proposals to lawmakers in January, noting that these lines would strengthen the entire grid.
But many lawmakers were not convinced, asking why they should support it if West Virginia has no direct benefit.
“It would increase our electric rates and private property owners might be faced with giving up their land or having their property values decline,” Hansen said.
It’s not only state officials voicing opposition. Public hearings have been held in the northern counties where community members shared their concerns with these projects that could go right through their backyards.
“We did hear from construction workers and electrical workers about the jobs, but otherwise it was uniformly against the construction of the project,” Hansen said.
An evidentiary hearing for MARL’s permit application will be held by the Public Service Commission on Oct. 26.
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